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And at that point (and I'm venturing into philosophy here so sorry about that) am I still me? If my brain has been downloaded (for lack of a better word) into

And at that point (and I'm venturing into philosophy here so sorry about that) am I still me? If my brain has been downloaded (for lack of a better word) into another, am I living on in that other body or does someone else have my memories? I've often wondered this about Star Trek-style teleportation. Are those red-shirts really moving instantly from one place to the other or are they being incinerated on a coloured circle and cloned somewhere else?

leetcrew 7y ago
are you the same "you" that you were last night before you went to sleep? for all practical purposes, yes; if a perfect clone woke up in your bed this morning, it would make no difference to the rest of the world, and your clone would still have all the same problems and goals. but the best evidence you have that you are the same entity as yesterday's "you" is that you remember some events from the day. the teleportation paradox is no harder to resolve.
- headmelted 7y ago
  THIS! And I'm really creeped out right now. I was about to type this example too and then didn't at the last. As a side note - My mind tends to race at night. Life has me so busy during the day that when I'm trying to sleep is the only time I get to do much thinking. Thing is, because I'm already tired I never remember much of it the next morning other than "I had a really good think about something last night". Given that I'll not remember, and no-one else will have known, it does seem philosophically compatible and biologically possible that the current me is in effect "dying" every night to make way for a "rebooted" version tomorrow. This is not inconsistent with what we know sleep to be. The only difference is that there's still only one me. With the transporter analogy, though, the physical matter is reconstructed at the other side from different matter, which means its a copy. The film "The Prestige" covers this difference brilliantly if you've ever seen it. Finally, if this comment makes no sense, it's because I'm in bed and my mind is racing.
invisiblerobot 7y ago
> or are they being incinerated on a coloured circle and cloned somewhere else? According to quantum mechanics this is exactly what is happening

leetcrew 7y ago

are you the same "you" that you were last night before you went to sleep? for all practical purposes, yes; if a perfect clone woke up in your bed this morning, it would make no difference to the rest of the world, and your clone would still have all the same problems and goals. but the best evidence you have that you are the same entity as yesterday's "you" is that you remember some events from the day. the teleportation paradox is no harder to resolve.

headmelted 7y ago
THIS! And I'm really creeped out right now. I was about to type this example too and then didn't at the last. As a side note - My mind tends to race at night. Life has me so busy during the day that when I'm trying to sleep is the only time I get to do much thinking. Thing is, because I'm already tired I never remember much of it the next morning other than "I had a really good think about something last night". Given that I'll not remember, and no-one else will have known, it does seem philosophically compatible and biologically possible that the current me is in effect "dying" every night to make way for a "rebooted" version tomorrow. This is not inconsistent with what we know sleep to be. The only difference is that there's still only one me. With the transporter analogy, though, the physical matter is reconstructed at the other side from different matter, which means its a copy. The film "The Prestige" covers this difference brilliantly if you've ever seen it. Finally, if this comment makes no sense, it's because I'm in bed and my mind is racing.

invisiblerobot 7y ago

> or are they being incinerated on a coloured circle and cloned somewhere else? According to quantum mechanics this is exactly what is happening