The point I am getting at here is awareness of the transition of the self between states of being. If you change your "self" then it is possible to accept the change and take it into your conception of what your "self" is as long as awareness exists throughout the transition.
For example if we do the ship of theseus to my body, remove my leg and replace it with a robot leg, remove my torso and replace it with a robot torso, arms, etc. Then piece by piece replace the brain with new parts piece by piece.... The change becomes a gradual one. You become capable of accepting this change in your sense of "self" by having self-awareness. If instead I knocked you out, changed literally all those parts of you while you're unconscious, like for like, the exchange is identical but we do the entire process with no in-between, your concept of self is shattered due to awareness and no ability to accept the changes as a new sense of self.
I am certain that this "awareness" is a key part of our sense of self.
The difference I see is that with the robotic parts, presumably the reason that they need an acclimation period is that they operate at least a bit differently from the original they replace, and it takes time for the other pieces to change how they interact with it in response. If it was a perfect replica, indistinguishable from the original, what would make an acclimation period necessary.
Trying to understand your point better, what would happen if you knocked me out and replaced everything part by part with a robot, but, when you finish, you swap the original pieces back in one by one until all the robot parts are gone. In your opinion, did I die in that scenario?
If it was a perfect replica, indistinguishable from the original, what would make an acclimation period necessary.
Self is a function of awareness. Awareness is an experience of time. Without experiencing awareness you can not experience self-awareness and therefore can not accept it as your "self".
In the same way, if you just put that perfect robotic replica next to the original and didn't swap anything, it would not replace the self. It would be a separate self. The merger of the two requires a the function of time and awareness.
Another interesting scenario to consider here is what if we place this robot version and the human version next to each other and wake them both up at the same time? They are now two selfs with two separate experiences. Ok, so what if we now merge them together? Piece by piece, allowing them time and awareness of their merger of parts? This would essentially form a merged self. Neither would have died in this scenario, despite the fact that both original "selfs" actually no longer exist.
Trying to understand your point better, what would happen if you knocked me out and replaced everything part by part with a robot, but, when you finish, you swap the original pieces back in one by one until all the robot parts are gone. In your opinion, did I die in that scenario?
Wouldn't this just be going to sleep and waking back up again? That one's a doozy, I don't like it. It makes me viscerally uncomfortable.
What if you used the transporter, but you didn't go anywhere, you beam right back into exactly where you left from. We could also say the machine is set to reuse the same set of matter-energy to rebuild you. In this case, there would be no change in your state of being to bring into your sense of self.
I'm trying to figure out if it's just the halt in brain activity that's important, or if there's something more specific to the process of teleportation.
The point I am getting at here is awareness of the transition of the self between states of being. If you change your "self" then it is possible to accept the change and take it into your conception of what your "self" is as long as awareness exists throughout the transition.
For example if we do the ship of theseus to my body, remove my leg and replace it with a robot leg, remove my torso and replace it with a robot torso, arms, etc. Then piece by piece replace the brain with new parts piece by piece.... The change becomes a gradual one. You become capable of accepting this change in your sense of "self" by having self-awareness. If instead I knocked you out, changed literally all those parts of you while you're unconscious, like for like, the exchange is identical but we do the entire process with no in-between, your concept of self is shattered due to awareness and no ability to accept the changes as a new sense of self.
I am certain that this "awareness" is a key part of our sense of self.
The difference I see is that with the robotic parts, presumably the reason that they need an acclimation period is that they operate at least a bit differently from the original they replace, and it takes time for the other pieces to change how they interact with it in response. If it was a perfect replica, indistinguishable from the original, what would make an acclimation period necessary.
Trying to understand your point better, what would happen if you knocked me out and replaced everything part by part with a robot, but, when you finish, you swap the original pieces back in one by one until all the robot parts are gone. In your opinion, did I die in that scenario?
Self is a function of awareness. Awareness is an experience of time. Without experiencing awareness you can not experience self-awareness and therefore can not accept it as your "self".
In the same way, if you just put that perfect robotic replica next to the original and didn't swap anything, it would not replace the self. It would be a separate self. The merger of the two requires a the function of time and awareness.
Another interesting scenario to consider here is what if we place this robot version and the human version next to each other and wake them both up at the same time? They are now two selfs with two separate experiences. Ok, so what if we now merge them together? Piece by piece, allowing them time and awareness of their merger of parts? This would essentially form a merged self. Neither would have died in this scenario, despite the fact that both original "selfs" actually no longer exist.
Wouldn't this just be going to sleep and waking back up again? That one's a doozy, I don't like it. It makes me viscerally uncomfortable.
Okay, let me rework that,
What if you used the transporter, but you didn't go anywhere, you beam right back into exactly where you left from. We could also say the machine is set to reuse the same set of matter-energy to rebuild you. In this case, there would be no change in your state of being to bring into your sense of self.
I'm trying to figure out if it's just the halt in brain activity that's important, or if there's something more specific to the process of teleportation.