Would you still be you?

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svenanders

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Re: Would you still be you?
« Reply #60 on: December 23, 2008, 03:03:27 PM »
Ok, but if I was to copy my brains data exactly as it is, and impliment it to another brain. Would that mean that I control two minds?
No there is no electrical connections between the brains. A physical gap means no control.

Exactly! As I said earlier:

I think there can only be one consciousness for each induvidual. There are something that seperates us from each other, but we have yet to find what excatly what that is. We can call it "soul" if you like, but I prefer consciousness.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2008, 03:06:49 PM by svenanders »

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ﮎingulaЯiτy

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Re: Would you still be you?
« Reply #61 on: December 23, 2008, 03:19:19 PM »
Exactly!
Ah, then I must have misinterpreted your position.
If I was asked to imagine a perfect deity, I would never invent one that suffers from a multiple personality disorder. Christians get points for originality there.

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svenanders

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Re: Would you still be you?
« Reply #62 on: December 23, 2008, 04:28:02 PM »
Exactly!
Ah, then I must have misinterpreted your position.

You most certainly did. But that's okay, even the greatest can fail from time to time!  :P

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Moonlit

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Re: Would you still be you?
« Reply #63 on: December 24, 2008, 07:52:02 AM »
I'm loving how well this debate is going.  I think we've brought up some really interesting point of views.

So, have we concluded that two copies of the same conciousness cannot exist as one conciousness but as two seperate ones?  How strange if you could see from two different perspectives.
You think that a photograph is indisputable evidence?  Would you like me to show you a photograph of Barack Obama having sex with a gorilla?

Re: Would you still be you?
« Reply #64 on: December 24, 2008, 04:36:08 PM »
I'm loving how well this debate is going.  I think we've brought up some really interesting point of views.

So, have we concluded that two copies of the same conciousness cannot exist as one conciousness but as two seperate ones?  How strange if you could see from two different perspectives.

I recall watching some show on TV a long time ago, when they were still studying experimental surgeries to deal with extreme cases of epilepsy, specifically surgically separating the two hemispheres of the brain by cutting the bridge - the results were really freaky imo. 

They found they could communicate information to the individual using only senses on one side of the person's head, and then request the information via the other, and the person would simply not know it.  For instance, they told a fellow in one ear, to leave the room, and after he got up, they stopped him, and asked in the other why he was leaving.  He said he was thirsty, and wanted to get a soda - but that side of him had no idea he was asked to get up and leave.

It led me to believe that both the individual consciousness of a person can be split, and also that (on a different topic) a good chunk of our thoughts seem to be dedicated to rationalizing what we do, instead of making decisions.  It's an interesting thought - maybe you get up for a rational reason, or get up for an artistic reason, and maybe you have both thoughts at once in different areas of the mind, because one or both is a rationalization, due to temporary dissonance between the hemispheres. 

How common is it to get angry at someone for BS reasons, because we are already having a bad day?  We may say something mean, and at first tell ourselves its because "they were being a dick" and a few moments later, realize we were being harsh because it's just been a rough day.  Is that late realization due to "the computation of thought coming to that conclusion" or is it the delay in propagation of information from another area of the mind that already realized it?  Did another part of our mind "know" already and make the decision to be harsh to that person, just because other people had been pissing us off all day?


As for "seeing from two perspectives" I can't see that happening without a data bridge between the two individuals and their respective sensory systems (including the sense of "internal dialog" that allows us to be aware of our thoughts).  If that bridge can be separated in a single human mind and cause dissonance, the complete lack of a bridge would create the same effect.

But then, is the person with a split mind really "two consciousnesses" or one, with two aspects that are not aware of each other?  Is there any difference - between that "individual's" experience and two clones' experiences, and even the experience of all humans at once - is there any difference between the consciousness of two people separated by a physical body separation and one person with two hemispheres separated by surgery? Of course, "I still see stuff from here" and everyone else "sees stuff from there" but it's an interesting concept, including if you ever did get your hemispheres separated, would you suddenly see out of your left eye for the rest of your life, or your right eye?