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>If I told you that I could make you smarter, right now, with 100% certainty and safety, but that afterwards... you wouldn't be you as you are now... would you
by eli_gottlieb 9y ago
>If I told you that I could make you smarter, right now, with 100% certainty and safety, but that afterwards... you wouldn't be you as you are now... would you say yes? Possibly, but I feel there's a certain inherent unease with that question. What happens to me if I become other?
This is silly. I don't become some other person when I drink alcohol or wear contact lenses, nor when I break a leg, exercise my muscles, or make any other permanent alteration to my body. A theory of self/identity that "breaks" under new medical advancements because it also breaks under everyday conditions is just a bad theory.
- ethbro 9y agoNone of the examples you gave are permanent neurological changes.
- eli_gottlieb 9y agoTechnically the mild brain damage of drinking heavily over time is permanent. The nervous system is a biological system made up of organs: it's always changing, often permanently. You might identify yourself with a particular functional aspect if your mind, but you're going to have to do a fair amount of scientific work to pick out which functional aspect. Just gesturing to the meat doesn't really pick out anything immutable or specific.