You're in a hurry, so you take the quick route to Mars. You enter the cubicle on Earth and every cell of your body is (somehow) recorded and the information transmitted instantly to Mars, where the cells are replicated. The original cells on Earth (ie your body) are annihilated. A qualititively identical thing steps out of the cubicle on Mars. Is there numerical (quantitative) identity between the you that entered the cublicle on Earth and the one that steps out of the cubicle on Mars? Is it you?
Because all the cells of your body have been replicated, including brain cells, the assumption is that the new body will have all the thoughts, memories, etc of the old one. There is psychological continuity.
What are your intuitions about this? What can a thought experiment like this really show or prove? Would your intutions be different if the original body were simply replicated, but not annililated, so there is now one "You" on Mars and the original still on Earth? Perhaps one could have a conversation with the other.
Would your intuitions be different if what your thoughts, memories, etc were replicated in on Mars wasn't physically identical (qualititively) to your body - if it were more obviously a machine, if the medium were different but the content the same?
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hmmm, i think as long as you looked exactly the same and you had perfect psychological continuity then the fact that you had different atoms wouldnt really matter as we are constantly changing them anyway.
But why would you have to look exactly the same? We change and age physically, have haircuts and dyes, get tans, acne, broken arms and tatoos. Michael Jackson is still the same person as the little boy in the Jackson 5 - isn't he?
well, i just meant you would have to look the same when you came out the other end. Changing slowly doesnt matter. If you came out as a woman, you would DEFFINATELY be a different person.
That may seem obvious to you but I don't think it is that obvious. Imagine an operation in which you go to sleep as a man and wake up as a woman but with exactly the same memories, etc. I don't think we'd say personal identity had been lost - or not necessarily. Or an operation in which you go to sleep stupid and ugly and wake up clever and beautiful. There's even some alteration in psychology here, but psychological continuity has been preserved, even if the intellect has been enhanced. Personal identity, in other words, can tolerate considerable changes, even pretty sudden ones.
but that is an operation, you have said you wanted it and there is prior knowledge that it will definately happen. The main problem when talking about persons is exactly what a person is, untill someone can give a deffinitive answer, then it is all a bit vague.
The uncertainty, or vagueness as you put it, is indeed a problem. Here we have a concept which is important to us, the concept of a person, and yet we are not sure what we think a person is. It matters because we like to differentiate ourselves from animals, because it has moral and legal implications, and for some people it has religious significance (survival after death, etc). But it is not so much that we can't decide about personal identity until we decide what a person it. It is more that thinking about personal identity helps us to rule in and rule out certain characteristics as essential for personhood. The essential criteria are, perhaps, those selfsame features that make us one and the same person over time.
Glover said the body "is what is perceived by others when they perceive me." I think the physical continuity is perhaps more important to those around you than to you as YOURSELF.
If you were to step out of the teletransporter on mars with an exterior that can be identifiable by others as you, then others will think it IS you. However, it is psychological continuity that allows you to know that you are you.
If you were to step onto mars and had maintained perfect psychological continuity, you would think you were still you and probably do a little victory dance because you'd survived such a bizarre journey. It would not be until perhaps you looked in a mirror or saw someone else that your physical body had changed, unless of course it was something VERY drastic.
I feel like I have more to say but I'll leave it at that for now.
By the way...Quadjo is Claire
When i was walking home, i was thinking about this, and even if your body had changed gender you would as we have said changed over time, but surely if your mind, memories, experiences etc. were all the same you would be the same person.
If you had an accident and lost a limb or something similar you would still be that person and over time they way you do things, react to things would change in the same way.
hmmm, although i would also say what other people think makes you the same person. Not necassarily whether you think you are the same person, but from other people recognising you. Recognising your "soul"
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