From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Sat Oct 26 2002 - 03:18:23 MDT
On Sat, Oct 26, 2002 at 06:45:16PM +1000, Avatar Polymorph wrote:
> My two cents worth:
>
> A computer hard drive turned off might have a clock ticking over but
> otherwise is asleep and turn it on and it is a bit awake and run its
> software and it is awake. Sort of anyhow.
>
> Wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall the software from a map you've made
> previously and it's a different dog.
So? Same atoms, different bits.
We can extend the analogy. You can be described in terms of the atoms you
are made of, and the bits that describe their structural relationship with
each other.
I could [warning: gedankenexperiment] kill you and use your body as
feedstock to a hydroponic system for growing food. Then, using a couple
of stem cells from your body and somewhat advanced jiggery-pokery with
someone else's genetic map _and_ an as-yet-not-very-existent artificial
uterus I could create a new foetus and grow it to adulthood using the
atoms from your body.
Same atoms, different bits.
The point of this metaphor is to make clear that what is important is not
the atoms, but the bits: they're what define you.
If it isn't clear enough already, consider this: every red blood cell in
your body today will be dead, gone, and replaced by November 30th 2002.
Most of your muscle tissue will have been completely replaced by November
30th, 2003. Our tissues are not permanent, they turn over regularly; and
the metabolic by-products aren't reused -- the replacements are made of
wholly new atoms, ingested or inhaled. Even your brain cells have a notable
rate of turnover, with some new development occuring -- and the long-term
memory tracks in your brain are laid down by physical, structural changes
in your neurons, and the intracellular components within your neurons are
replaced and remanufactured using fresh atoms over a period of days to
years.
Bluntly, you are to the same Avatar Polymorph that you were ten years ago.
About all you've got in common is some parts of your skeleton and brain --
and even then, if we could magically tag the individual atoms that have
stayed and visualise the map of them you'd resemble a swiss cheese.
Bits define you. Physical continuity is an illusion.
-- Charlie
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