• very_well_lost@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    I hate to break it to you, but our meat brains don’t even have continuity of consciousness. We become unconscious all the time. The only real constant is the “hardware” our consciousness emerges from, but even that is always changing.

    • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
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      28 days ago

      Except our brains are still functioning. If they didn’t keep functioning, we’d be brain dead. The point is that there’s a common thread that connects every waking moment together.

    • terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      28 days ago

      I don’t get the down votes. Did y’all forget about sleep? No one vividly dreams every night all night long. Often it’s the fade to black going to sleep then the sudden awakening.

        • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          28 days ago

          Obviously not, but what is the functional difference? If you can’t tell it’s happening, does it actually matter?

            • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              27 days ago

              Sorry, should have been more specific. If you died in your sleep every night and came back to life in the morning, and you couldn’t tell it was happening, would it matter?

              It’s not a question with a right answer, I just want to hear your thoughts about it

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                27 days ago

                I’m that case no it wouldn’t matter. It would make us all feel much better about the possibility of life after the body dies though.

                • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  27 days ago

                  What if a copy of you woke up in the morning? So you could see your dead body from yesterday, but consciousness would seem as continuous to you as normal–you went to sleep yesterday and effectively woke up today, just in a different body? Would it bother you knowing you weren’t technically the same you as yesterday, even if it seemed like it to you?

                  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                    27 days ago

                    Probably because I’d never want to sleep again. That would be a horrific way to find out you only have as long as you can stay awake.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          28 days ago

          How would you know?

          How do you know you’re not a copy of yesterday’s you? If a clone has your memories and you’re not around anymore, then what’s the difference?

          • realitista@lemm.ee
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            28 days ago

            You’d have to experience death for the clone to continue being the only copy.

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              28 days ago

              Yeah. In the example above the original is dead, and a clone with all of your memories up until the point of death is generated.

              In that case, there is continuity of concussions, at least as far as anyone can tell, least of all the clone.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            Don’t try to get philosophical about this. There is a hard difference between copying a brain and actually transferring consciousness.

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              28 days ago

              Don’t try to get philosophical about this.

              Er? It’s a philosophical conversation since, you know, brain uploading is not a thing.

              If you don’t want to engage in philosophy, you’re in the wrong place.