[extropy-chat] Agency as Prime Determinant of Personal Identity

[Jef Allbright]

> Russell writes
> 
> > On 11/2/06, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:
> > > (2) Some people have "moved up" beyond the common-sense 
> description 
> > > of personal identity to embrace the broader "patternist" 
> definition 
> > > but have yet to embrace an even more general description based on 
> > > agency rather than physical/functional similarity.
> 
> > I'm curious, what's your definition of identity based on agency?
> > (I remember your general "wider contexts" philosophy and 
> there's some 
> > validity in it, but not sure how it bears on the question of 
> > identity.)
> 
> I second the motion.
> 
> Lee
> 
> P.S.  Okay, overcome with guilt, I'll add some substance to 
> my post here. Jef earlier wrote: "I don't in fact believe 
> that a person is fully and effectively defined by their 
> values, beliefs and memories."  All right then, provide an example.

Alrighty then.  Here's an example intended to show that values, beliefs and memories don't necessarily or sufficiently define a person.

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Alice at the age of six loved playing with dolls but boys were icky. She wasn't sure whether she believed in Santa Claus, and her memories were like those of most little girls, revolving around events in her home and with the neighbor kids, and she especially remembered her fourth birthday party (birthdays are great!) when grandma came to visit all the way from... someplace far away.

When Alice turned sixteen, playing with dolls was long since passé and boys were the most important focus of her life.  She didn't believe in Santa Claus, but she believed very strongly that anyone should be allowed to do whatever they want, as long as they don't hurt anyone else, and she really really really wished people would leave her alone!  Her memories were mostly of friends and social events over the last several years, but she didn't remember a lot about her early childhood years.

When Alice was twenty-six, she was very active in her local chapter of United World, and it frustrated her to no end how people were so blind to the importance, rather the necessity, of being involved and working together for a common cause. Her memories were full of momentous world events and she could hardly remember being the sixteen year old who so often said "leave me alone" when people offered to help.

At thirty-six, Alice couldn't understand how people could find time for idealistic dreams like "saving the world" when she and her husband had their hands more than full with two jobs, two mortgages and two kids.  She believed strongly that family (especially the children) comes first, and that free time was among the most valuable things in the universe.  She had fond memories of being sixteen, when life was so simple and free.

<Skip ahead fifty years>

At eighty-six, Alice and her partner stayed almost entirely at home due to the ongoing bioterrorist threats. It wasn't so bad though, and in fact she was more active and involved than ever before using the latest telepresence technology. It allowed her to be in more than one place at the same time, and while her multiple projects were very important to her, even with mental augmentation she sometimes felt she might explode from all the in-rushing information. Being so plugged into the net it was often hard to discern where "Alice" ended and the rest of the world began, and she could "remember" almost anything instantly.

<Skip ahead fifty years>

On their one hundred thirty-sixth birthday Alice's variants and doubles noted their anniversary in passing but were much too engaged with multiples of projects to choose to allocate an attentional resource branch for a dedicated celebration. AlicePrime would have wanted it that way, and it's not like anyone's going to forget anything these days.

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I'll follow up later with the next part, about how threads of agency (single or multiple) are a more general basis for determination of personal identity.

- Jef