I'm sure this is standard stuff in artificial consciousness circles, but could someone solve it for me?
The location: an operating theatre with facilities for two simultaneous operations.
Your situation: you are laid out on one table. You can see the other table at the other side of the room. There is a body on it…
Scenario 1:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain, examine it carefully and replace it.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) is not too controversial here. No one would imagine that your personality could not survive being separated from your skull for a few minutes.
Scenario 2:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain and transplant it into the skull of the brainless donated cadaver on the other table.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
B. Everything is normal.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) should not be too controversial. Unless your personality resides in any area other than the brain then transplanting the whole brain shouldn’t affect it.
Scenario 3:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain, disassemble it particle by particle, examine each particle carefully, re-assemble the brain perfectly and replace it.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) seems logical. If not, then it implies that temporarily separating your molecules affects your personality. Does your soul escape? You would be reluctant to use a Star Trek transporter!
Scenario 4:
The doctors anaesthetise you, proceed to remove your brain particle by particle, discarding each particle and replacing it with an exact copy.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Any answer other than (A) would suggest that consciousness depends on some property of the particles that cannot be copied. In that case, a conscious electronic computer would be impossible.
Scenario 6:
The doctors anaesthetise you, proceed to remove your brain particle by particle, examine each particle and replace it with an exact copy. However, the original particles are then re-assembled perfectly and the resulting brain transplanted into the body on the other table.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table and if you look in the mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
If you answered (A) for all of the previous questions then “you” are now in two places simultaneously – which cannot be true. Therefore at least one of your previous answers must be wrong. Which, and why?
The location: an operating theatre with facilities for two simultaneous operations.
Your situation: you are laid out on one table. You can see the other table at the other side of the room. There is a body on it…
Scenario 1:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain, examine it carefully and replace it.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) is not too controversial here. No one would imagine that your personality could not survive being separated from your skull for a few minutes.
Scenario 2:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain and transplant it into the skull of the brainless donated cadaver on the other table.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
B. Everything is normal.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) should not be too controversial. Unless your personality resides in any area other than the brain then transplanting the whole brain shouldn’t affect it.
Scenario 3:
The doctors anaesthetise you, remove your brain, disassemble it particle by particle, examine each particle carefully, re-assemble the brain perfectly and replace it.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Answer (A) seems logical. If not, then it implies that temporarily separating your molecules affects your personality. Does your soul escape? You would be reluctant to use a Star Trek transporter!
Scenario 4:
The doctors anaesthetise you, proceed to remove your brain particle by particle, discarding each particle and replacing it with an exact copy.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table, and if you look in a mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
Any answer other than (A) would suggest that consciousness depends on some property of the particles that cannot be copied. In that case, a conscious electronic computer would be impossible.
Scenario 6:
The doctors anaesthetise you, proceed to remove your brain particle by particle, examine each particle and replace it with an exact copy. However, the original particles are then re-assembled perfectly and the resulting brain transplanted into the body on the other table.
What do you experience when you wake up?
Select one of the following responses:
A. Everything is normal.
B. You see your old body lying on the other table and if you look in the mirror you see a new face.
C. Nothing; you don’t exist anymore
D. None of the above. Explain why…
If you answered (A) for all of the previous questions then “you” are now in two places simultaneously – which cannot be true. Therefore at least one of your previous answers must be wrong. Which, and why?
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Re: Consciousness puzzle
Thu, February 24, 2005 - 2:37 PMC) nothing your brain dead
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Re: Consciousness puzzle
Sun, March 6, 2005 - 4:47 AMNone of the above. Taking all your previous scenarios to be true, you would wake up and see yourself. Pretty trippy heh.
-Sweet
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Re: Consciousness puzzle
Wed, March 30, 2005 - 7:35 AMI wouldn't think that "you" would be two places at once in that last scenario. As soon as the two brains started functioning, there'd be two different experiences/experiencers, and after the first stimulus was received, their 'sameness' would fall apart.
And even thinking about body chemistry, and it's effects on the brain, you have even more deviation. The brain in the 'new' body would find new cravings/interactions that weren't a part of who 'you' were before the operation...
So i guess to me, the 'real' question here is "can you make a new living thing by making an exact replica of a living thing", and I guess I'd have to say yes, I think you could.
