Who am I?What am I?

Philosophy of Mind

BRENT SILBYUnlimited (UPT)

Personal Identity

• What makes you the person that you are?

• By the end of today, you will have new ways to think about your mind and who you are.

Personal Identity

• What makes you the person that you are?

• Body or Mind?

• Discuss: when would you stop being you…* If you had no legs?

* If you had no arms and legs?

* If you had no body, just a head?

* Just a brain in a vat?

Swamp Man

Thought Experiment:

Imagine that lightning strikes a swamp

Some weird accident results, which makes the swamp produce an exact replica of you !

The replica is the same in every respect. It has exactly the same genetic structure and its brain is identical to yours.

It thinks and feels the same as you. It has the same memories as you.

The question: Is it you?

Startrek Transporter

How the transporter works… [diagram on board]

The transporter scans your molecular structure.

It then rapidly disassembles you atom by atom.

Your original structural information is sent to the planet surface (perhaps by radiowaves).

On the surface, the information is used to construct a new you from local atoms and molecules. You step into the transporter and are transported to the planet surface.

Is the person on the planet surface actually YOU!

Transporter Malfunction

Suppose the transporter malfunctions…It constructs the new you on the planet surface, but it does notdeconstruct the original you.

There are now 2 of you !

The transporter operator on the ship says to you“Sorry, there’s been a malfunction. You have been transported to the surface, and now we will have to destroy you manually”

What would you say ?

The question is: which one is you ?

Transporter Malfunction

If the original is the real you, then the one on the planet is notyou…

But that means if the transporter worked correctly, you would have been destroyed and replaced by a copy, which isn’t you.

But…If the copy is the real you, then when the transporter malfunctions you won’t mind if the original you is destroyed.

BUT OF COURSE YOU MIND !! ITS YOU !!

Transporter Malfunction

So, what is it that makes you YOU?

If it is not the way you are put together, then what is it?

Perhaps the one on the planet is not you because it is madeout of different atoms.

BUT, this won’t work because according to quantumphysics, every subatomic particle in your brain is swappingevery instant. So you are constantly being made fromdifferent atoms.

How would this question be answered by:

Physicalist…

Dualist…

The Android brain example:

Describe scenario here:

Piece by piece your brain is replaced with silicon.

It is functionally the same as the original brain, but it is madeof computer chips.

IS IT YOU?

The functionalist would say YES!

How would this be answered by:

Dualist….

Physicalist….

Now suppose that the original parts of the brain were kept ina jar as the transformation took place.

If scientists reassemble the original parts of the brain,Then which one is you?

Problem here. We thought the computer chip brain would bethe original person, but now it seems that the biological brainis the original.

How can we overcome this paradox?

Perhaps one way to overcome the problem is to look atcontinuity of existence…

The biological brain cannot be you because it contains partsthat sat in storage for various lengths of time.

The android brain is you, because it had a continuousfunctionality as the transformation took place.

To close, let’s consider the following suggestion:

The mind is more than the brain…It is the brain + a range of peripheral devices

We extend our mind into the world by:• off-loading memory into computers (or paper), • by connecting with information contained in books and internet, • by the constant exchange of thoughts with other people.

Does cutting these links shrink the mind? If so, then perhapscutting off limbs also shrinks the mind.

Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY

Produced at UPTChristchurch, New Zealand

www.unlimited.school.nz