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Which of these philosophies do you believe?


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92 replies to this topic

Poll: Philosophy A or B? (47 member(s) have cast votes)

Which Philosophy?

  1. Philosophy A (30 votes [63.83%])

    Percentage of vote: 63.83%

  2. Philosophy B (17 votes [36.17%])

    Percentage of vote: 36.17%

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#91 Lovetolearn

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Posted 15 October 2012 - 09:48 AM

The problem with the computer analogy is that a computer is not aware of itself the way a human being is. A perfect copy may be identical in regards to memories, life experiences etc., but it will still be a separate awareness from the original.

I know no one here knows me from Adam so who really cares what I think, but I find it a little sad when I see people on here touting just how unremarkable we are. I am an atheist, but I still think the fact that we are here observing the universe and experiencing some kind of reality is quite remarkable. If we are so unspecial, we should just blow up the nukes now and get it over with.

#92 Willou

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Posted 20 October 2012 - 01:25 PM

Philosophy B is correct.

I believe myself to be a manifestation of the physical and chemical activity of my neurons, and the continuity of my being is kept only because the patterns remain. So each night when I sleep, I cease to exist as a conscious being (except in the REM stage), and each morning I am recreated. I experience something identical to death as the neurons which create me cease doing so. There could be a billion Willous, and they'd all just be me. Each one would be self-observant.

#93 elforn01

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Posted 13 November 2012 - 04:39 PM

Willou, thank you. After hours of pondering and re-thinking I think that's the only way I can understand 'B'. I was also getting stuck understanding the continuity of consciousness aspect.

I agree the back up would be conscious, and would be 'me' in terms of it's self-identity, memory, behaviour, responses to new stimuli based on past experiences etc, and that it would protest to its last breath that it's the original. My difficulty came from an experiential perspective. The rebooted back up would be conscious, and it would be 'me'. Experientially however - would my experience of consciousness end, and the new conscious me actually be a new manifestation of a new 'me' consciousness (the twin example is a good one)?

Is it possible that for the 'original'/'pre-death' conscious would experience something akin to going into a dreamless sleep and never waking up?

Yes the reboot would be conscious (program + computer = consciousness), and that rebooted consciousness will believe it is a continuation and feel as though it is an extension of the same experiemce, but will the original experience continue?

Assuming for argument's sake that we all undergo a kind of brain death while we are asleep, there is no way of proving whether the morning consciousness is experientially the same - in the morning we are the new reboot, and I (like the post-death reboot) will argue that my conciousness is a continuation of the same 'experience'. I'm trying really hard to be open minded. I'm just struggling to reconcile death being a non-event, and the experiential 'me' jumping any span of complete brain inactivity (including cryogenic freezing).

In the end, we will never know: those who experience full brain death and are rebooted (in the same body or otherwise) will argue, and believe they are the same existent consciousness as immediately prior, and the only 'person' who could definitively say they ceased to exist is the person who no longer exists because that period of consciousness ended...

Edited by elforn01, 13 November 2012 - 04:44 PM.


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