I’ve been watching the TV series Pantheon and I really like it, but this tiny aspect is something I can’t quite grasp. So these people have their minds uploaded to the cloud - and they make a point to state that they’re still “them” - alive, real, authentic. But would it really be like that? The process is brain mapping, so essentially they just make a perfect clone of your brain/mind and run it digitally. But it’s still just a simulation. A perfect clone is still just a clone. The original person is gone. I don’t see the “continuity” aspect.

  • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml
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    12 days ago

    There is no continuity. We don’t have bodies, we are bodies. There is no independent ‘self’ to be moved around seperately from the physical stuff.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      I always think about hormones in these conversations. You are not you without them, and 100 other things like pain, biofeedback, etc.

      • AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev
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        12 days ago

        Lots of recent (meaning past 20 years or so) research shows that our gut bacteria play quite a large role in our mental functions, too.

        The concept of “the self” as a single, indivisible, unchanging thing is simply not compatible with observed reality. To be alive is to be in a constant state of flux.

        Is there such a thing as an eternal soul? Uh, maybe…but if there is, it’s not going to be responsible for the things we typically associate with individual living people. It’s not going to have your sense of humor, or your memories, or your opinions, or your math skills. We know enough about all of those things to confidently say they are not eternal.