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by behrlich 1089 days ago
I took Space Ship + silicon rather than virus. I thought the tut-tutting was pretty well explained:

> But there is a tension. In allowing your brain and body to be replaced by synthetic parts, you seemed to be accepting that psychological continuity is what matters, not bodily continuity. But if this is the case, why did you risk the spacecraft instead of taking the teletransporter? You ended up allowing your body to be replaced anyway, so why did you decide to risk everything on the spacecraft instead of just giving up your original body there and then?

The question being posed is "what is the difference between replacing all of your cells, vs all of your neurons over time?".

My logic was that my molecules are being replaced over time, so is that so different than my neurons being replaced over time, whereas a wholesale replacement of my body felt like a break in continuity. I'm no philosopher though :)

2 comments

This is a thought experiment know as the Ship of Theseus[0]. I never thought of it in terms of replacing molecules in a human body, it certainly spices things up.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Yes it is like the difference between rolling a wheel from point a to b and picking it up and carrying it over. Life is the rolling. Once the rubber leaves the road it's rip.