---Hal Finney <hal@rain.org> wrote:
>
> Joe Jenkins, <joe_jenkins@yahoo.com>, writes:
> > You said it sounds reasonable if I think it's me. Well, I think the
> > other fellow at the party *is* me for all practical purposes.
>
> You have to be careful with the line of reasoning that says you can
> just define yourself to be whatever you want. Otherwise I define "me"
> as including every member of the human race. Presto, I am virtually
> immortal, incredibly powerful, spread over the entire planet, able to
> work my will virtually anywhere. (Of course I do have a bit of
trouble
> making up my mind.) This seems to be a very attractive definition of
> identity from the pragmatic point of view. But somehow it seems to
miss
> the point, doesn't it?
>
This part of my definition does require a lot of caution. In my case,
however, you have to keep in mind that my last couple of post gave a
precise definition of what I think is me. I was clumsily assuming
everyone would keep that in mind. Without a precise definition to
accompany "whatever I think is me" the statement is useless.
Joe Jenkins
joe_jenkins@yahoo.com