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"As a brain donor, your brain will be used for research purposes only—it will not be given to another person." How many people had to ask/worry about that for
by jodrellblank 7y ago
"As a brain donor, your brain will be used for research purposes only—it will not be given to another person."
How many people had to ask/worry about that for them to write it? Isaac Arthur's YouTube video on identity[1] includes a comment "if someone transplanted Bob's brain into Joe's body, we would not think of it as Joe-with-Bob's-brain, but rather Bob-with-Joe's-body".
In that sense it might be impossible to give my brain to another person, it would be more like giving me their body; but what if it was only a bit of my brain? If my motor cortex could be transplanted into a stroke victim or a Parkinson's patient, or whatever; writing that down doesn't sound objectionably or identity-breaking.
[1] Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur, in his "Existential Crisis series" playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEyiugDVQ6o&list=PLIIOUpOge0LuCndr25ORvBN9OI1k1O4kJ&index=12&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEyiugDVQ6o&list=PLIIOUpOge0...
- MaxBarraclough 7y agoRight on - if your brain is placed in another body, that body becomes your body. Your brain remains 'yours' almost by definition. > what if it was only a bit of my brain? If my motor cortex could be transplanted into a stroke victim or a Parkinson's patient, or whatever; writing that down doesn't sound objectionably or identity-breaking. I think it does break identity, but that doesn't mean it should be discarded. Your thought-experiment strongly suggests that 'identity of mind' (at least as far as it tracks the brain) is not atomic or indivisible.