[ExI] Continuity of experience.

John Clark jonkc at bellsouth.net
Sun Feb 28 17:29:10 UTC 2010


On Feb 27, 2010, Spencer Campbell wrote:
> 
> Take two human bodies. Remove the brains of each, replacing them with chemically-and-electrically inert copies with identical structural properties. Density, shape, rigidity, et cetera.

If electrical charge distribution is included in the "et cetera" then it's meaningless to talk about copies that are identical to working models but are nevertheless inert. 

> More simply: a heartbeat implies a mind. Breathing implies a mind.

Sleeping people and those in a coma due to massive brain damage do both of those things but they don't have a mind, or at least they don't act like they do.

And concerning the title of this thread ask yourself one question, what would the NON continuity of existence seem like? I don't think there is any doubt that subjectively everything would seem as continuous as ever, it's just that the external world would seem to jump. So why should people get all hot and bothered worrying about the continuity of their existence? 

> Actually I would not be at all surprised to learn that time IS
> quantized in reality

Neither would I, but I think it's irrelevant to the question at hand.

 John K Clark



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