[ExI] Destructive uploading.

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 9:36 PM, The Avantguardian
<avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>> When you say "I want to survive in this body for another year" you are
>> being altruistic rather than selfish, since in a year most of the
>> matter in your body will have been replaced, and the person who
>> survives is someone who looks like you and believes he is you, but
>> isn't really you.
>
> There is an assumption there that identity is a property of matter moving through the system. Matter is fungible, the configuration state of the system itself is not. In your example, there was something both physical and continuous about you despite the turnover of matter in your body over the year. That something was metabolism, a continuous complex chemical reaction that at all times could in theory be mapped to the label Stathis. Therefore, you are still you after all this time.
> The water in Niagra Falls continuously replenishes itself every second. That doesn't mean it is no longer Niagra Falls.

There are two considerations in these discussions. One is a question
of definition and the other is a question of what is important to us.
We could define identity as "same matter", "same configuration" or
"different matter or configuration as long as the change is
continuous". These definitions do not change how we feel about
ourselves. For example, some people are surprised to learn that most
of the matter in their body is replaced over the course of a year,
which under the first definition would mean they have died and been
replaced by a copy. However, they are usually not upset by this
revelation. They figure that since they feel they have survived if
this is death it is a type of death that doesn't matter.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou