[extropy-chat] Meta re recurring threads was Personal Identity Bis

[Keith Henson]

At 06:52 PM 4/13/2007 +0200, Eugen wrote:

snip

>I wonder why I keep posting that example, with literature,
>but nobody seems to actually care to read it. It's been more
>than a decade that we keep having these threads, and they
>always go through the same motions. I'm getting tired of this.
>I think I'm going to ban these for good.

I wondered why these identity threads seemed so old to me.  Various moves 
and escapes have winnowed my SF collection to a remnant, but I kept several 
by A.E. Van Vogt including _The World of Null A_.  I don't know how many 
here have read it, but the copyright is 1945.  That *62* years ago.

I just reread it.

None of the identity arguments on this or any other forum I have seen has 
added a new idea to those expressed in that story written in 1945.

I.e., it's much older than a decade, and who knows, Van Vogt probably stole 
it from some even older source.

The meta question is why people continue to rehash this topic and several 
others?  It can't be just a part of growing up because some I know are not 
that much younger than I am.

Keith