Carpe Diem!

I am reading this book called “the Self Illusion” by Bruce Hood. I’m not going to write about it. It just popped this question in my mind: “if we have the technology to duplicate our bodies and our minds, what will happen to the ‘sense’ of self? this feeling of ‘me’?”

There was a buzz about uploading consciousness into computers a while ago, and that seemed quite fascinating, to me. I never really appraised it, though, you know, deeply. Tonight I thought about it, however.

Imagine you are having an exact duplicate of yourself, to the atomic level of precision. If it’s still necessary (if up to that level, your memories do not get transferred to the new body automatically), you upload your memories into that new body too. Now, where is your sense of self? This feeling of being “you”, does it stay in two places at once? Seems improbable. If not, what is the point of transferring your consciousness into another body? What is a duplicate worth without this “sense of self”?

There’s another way to look at it too. Imagine you have prosthetic limbs and artificial body parts. They are connected to your sensory system too and you feel them. Now, suppose, you already have your body but through a chip in your brain, you are connected to this artificial body as well. Doesn’t this extend your sense of me? IF we have the technology and with this artificial body comes an artificial brain that backs up everything from our brain, could it make a new version of us when we disconnect it from our original body? Will this new body, then, have a sense of self or it’ll be a zombie version of us?

I don’t want to burst your bubbles, but becoming “immortal” by copying your mind into a computer sounds as unbelievable as drinking the immortality potion. Stop working on that zombie version of yourself and seize the day!