<div dir="ltr">Given the quantum mechanical fact that no particles are distinguishable from other particles (there is no actual way to talk about this electron and that electron, as in <a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/pl/no_individual_particles/">http://lesswrong.com/lw/pl/no_individual_particles/</a> and <a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/ph/can_you_prove_two_particles_are_identical/">http://lesswrong.com/lw/ph/can_you_prove_two_particles_are_identical/</a>), it matters not at all that your atoms are slowly replaced over months. If you lose a hand, you're still YOU. The only meaningful way to talk about who is YOU is to talk about brain states. If you get your hand back but get a lobotomy, you're no longer you. Then the thought experiment should be more like, "If you die each night and are replaced with a new copy of your body, but with all the memories AND brain connections AND current state AND hormone and neurotransmitter balances, then would that make any difference in how you live your life?" To which I would say no, because my mind is entirely intact, and that's me. <div>Connor</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 1, 2014 at 10:48 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:stathisp@gmail.com" target="_blank">stathisp@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br><br>On Thursday, October 2, 2014, William Flynn Wallace <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com" target="_blank">foozler83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"> Suppose you are informed that<br>
you have a disease that causes you to die whenever you fall asleep at<br>
night so that the person who wakes up in the morning is a completely<br>
different Dan Ust who shares your memories. This has been happening<br>
every day of your life, but you have only just found out about it.<br>
Would this information worry you or make any difference to how you<br>
live your life?<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">Absolutely YES. It means that someone with my body and memories will awake tomorrow but it will not be me. It means that I will die today. bill w</div><br></div><div dir="ltr"></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Then I'm sorry to upset you but this is more or less what actually happens in ordinary life. The matter in your body is replaced over time such that over a period of months very little of the original matter remains.</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br>-- <br>Stathis Papaioannou<br>
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