🧠 Are the me of yesterday and the me of today the same person? — A slightly strange story about personality copying and the Ship of Theseus
Stories like this often appear in the world of science fiction.
"We can perfectly copy your personality."
Memories, personality, and thoughts are all identical.
The copied personality speaks just like you and thinks just like you.
Now, is this copy you yourself?
I think many people would think for a moment and then say this:
"No... probably not."
Even though the information is the same, for some reason, it feels like "not me."
This sense of discomfort is actually a very interesting gateway to philosophy.
🚀 The story of the copy sent to Mars
Please imagine this kind of future technology.
To send humans to Mars, instead of transporting the body itself, there is a device that
copies personality and body information to reconstruct it on-site.
The procedure is as follows.
Scan you on Earth
Reconstruct you on Mars
Dispose of the original on Earth
The you that appeared on Mars thinks this:
"Alright, I've arrived on Mars!"
Memories and emotions are completely continuous.
However, from the Earth's perspective, it is like this:
You are dead.
There is simply "someone exactly like you" on Mars.
Even though logically it is the same person,
for some reason, we feel this way.
"That is my death."
This sense of unease is shared by quite a lot of people.
🧩 Is personality "information" or "continuity"?
Here, one way of thinking emerges.
Perhaps people
personality = information
do not think of it that way.
Rather, they think like this.
personality = continuously ongoing experience
In other words,
the me of yesterday
the me of today
the me of tomorrow
we feel that thisunbroken flowis "me."
Standing on this perspective, the unease of the copy problem can be explained.
A copy is "the same information," but
the flow of experience branches off.
That is why we feel it is
a "different personality."
🚢 The Ship of Theseus and humans
Here, a famous philosophical problem arises.
The Ship of Theseus is the topic.
There is an old ship, and its broken parts are replaced little by little.
After many decades, all the parts have been replaced.
Now, is this ship the original ship?
The same problem is happening to humans.
Human cells are almost entirely replaced over a long period of time.
In a few to over a dozen years, a significant percentage of the body's cells become new.
In other words, to put it extremely,
100% of the materials have been replaced.
Even so, we think:
"The me of yesterday and the me of today are the same person."
Why is that?
The reason is probably simple.
Because we live continuously.
As long as the flow of experience is not interrupted,
even if the materials change, "I" continue.
🤖 Is a server personality really "myself"?
In science fiction, even more extreme ideas appear.
The idea of uploading a personality to a server
to live forever.
But many people would likely feel this way:
"Is that really me?"
The personality inside the server
has my memories
Speaking with my own personality
Thinking like me
Even so, I wonder somewhere inside.
Isn't that just a 'copy of me'?
In other words
It is me in terms of information
But there is no continuity of experience
Therefore, it is not 'me'.
I feel like quite a lot of people think this way.
🌍 However, if there were an exception
What if the Earth were to be destroyed?
A future where humanity faces extinction is approaching.
At that time, a scientist says:
'We can save your personality to a server and send it to another planet.'
They further say:
'We can regenerate a body from the saved DNA.'
In other words
Personality data
DNA
A new body
to reconstruct a human being.
At this point, many people might organize their thoughts like this:
"That is not me."
But at the same time, they might think:
"It is a continuation of myself."
Or perhaps
"a being infinitely close to myself, like a child."
like existence.
It is not the complete me, but
it is certainly something that continues into the future.
🌙 After all, what is "me"?
Thinking about it this far,
we arrive at a rather interesting conclusion.
We usually think,
even if our cells are replaced,
even if our memories change slightly,
even if our personality shifts somewhat,
that "I am me."
But
a branched copy
is somehow hard to accept.
In other words, for us, what is "me"?
It may not be about material or information, but rather
an unbroken stream of experience
that is what it might be.
From the me of yesterday to the me of today.
And on to the me of tomorrow.
As long as that flow continues,
even if my body is completely replaced like the Ship of Theseus,
we will surely say this:
“Even so, I am still me.”
▼ You can check out other articles on this theme in this magazine.
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