Posted by John Tchoe on July 19, 19101 at 14:10:22:
In Reply to: Re: What in bloody hell? posted by Noctillucent on July 18, 19101 at 19:39:38:
: We need to clear up a point of confusion.
: It has to do with this question: If your brain were made of a different set of atoms than the ones it presently has, would the person who is conscious be YOU, or someone else who only acts like you and has the same memories as you?
: How outside observers might answer this is not the question. Rather, how do you answer it?
: You seem to grasp the difference in meaning between YOU as a first-person label you apply to yourself, and someone who acts and has your same memories, but isn’t YOU. For example, when we introduce a second duplicate brain, you have no trouble in identifying that brain as being someone who is NOT YOU, even though they have all the same memories as YOU.
: Keeping this exact distinction in mind, and your brain were made of a different set atoms, would that person be YOU or someone else?
<JWT>I almost hate to say this, because it's really easy to interpret it as a glib answer. The answer to your question, "If your brain were made of a different set of atoms than the ones it presently has, would the person who is conscious be YOU, or someone else who only acts like you and has the same memories as you?"
depends on who you are asking. If you are asking me, yes. If you are asking him, no.
Here's what I mean by my answer, and I hope this gets across. The abstract concept I define as "myself" is NOT SEPARABLE from my brain. To put it another way, it's not "my self," it's "myself." You create another brain out of a bunch of different atoms, and it has another "self" which will answer yes to your question, but I will not.
The big difficulty we're having here is that implicit in everything you say, behind every question, is the belief that "you" exists separate from your brain.
The only way I can think of that we can get around this difficulty is to look at what we know, what we both can see, and figure out if it fits better into a theory of consciousness being reducible to the brain, or being separate and independent from it.
Evidence from neurological studies, from brain injury cases, from a neurological interpretation of Freudian theory, from behaviorism, from firsthand experience, all support the brain=consciousness theory.
When you stay awake for a long time, toxins build up in your brain and your consciousness is affected, even though with training, this effect can be reduced.
When a neurosurgeon stimulates different parts of the brain, it brings intense, vivid memories to the patient's conscious mind.
Scientists have implanted electrodes into a human brain which allow a person to move cursors on a computer screen merely by thinking about it.
Brainwashing can change a person's deepest convictions and personality.
If consciousness were separate and independent from the brain, wouldn't the above not be true?</JWT>
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