By xaosseed
I find that I do not believe souls can be teleported.
If teleport technology develops along the lines currently posited - i.e. that molecules position and momentum can somehow be defined enough to duplicate a person exactly to the molecule at a different location - then it sets up a problem. Is it you that walks off the other teleport pad? Assuming that “you” were disintegrated on the ‘departure’ pad does that make you dead?
Recognising that You-2 who walked off the arrival pad has all your memories and remembers walking onto the departure unit, as far as You-2 is concerned, he is you. But - and this is interesting for me - I can’t feel that it would be me. I would have died on the departure pad.
Now this is interesting because it means I believe in souls - or at least that there is more going on within the body than just the sum of all the biological process. I hadn’t really firmed up whether I did or didn’t believe in this before now, but I guess I do.
So, does that means that teleporters are going to create an army of soulless monsters? What will the lack of a soul mean in practical terms?
Honestly, though, this is an angels on the head of a pin question, but I expect to progress further in my voyage of self-discovery once I start taking Lariam.
No related posts.
1st of September, 2008
I can see the issue. And I think you definitely have a valid point. Its something I never considered, but now you mention it, my casual mentioning of ‘oh god I wish I could just be teleported home’ that I love to say seems a bit… creepy.
Oddly enough, I think I may just be ok with slogging home through the rain that is opening up over the heavens here for a change.
1st of September, 2008
So I guess one way to determine whether there is a “soul” — a part of a human that is more than the sum of its biological parts — is to develop a transporter and send someone through it and see who/what comes out the other side.
I like the idea of the soul, but don’t buy into it at present. Just because I don’t understand how self and soul arise from our squishy bits doesn’t mean they don’t.
1st of September, 2008
I’ve always been partial to that idea that your soul can only travel at a walking pace, which is why if when you travel you feel a disconnect untill it can catch up. (Pattern Recognition I think). In that sense I guess it could always just catch up with its new body.
Also interesting is the idea that the body replaces its cells after so long, of course that one falls down when you realise certain cells like those associated with the core of a person tend to stick around.
But then you can change those few bits, states of ones and zeros in the cortex and all… Do mind altering drugs effect the soul? Do memories of dark sins stain it? The acceptance of forgiveness cleanse?
Am I the state or the matter?
All way above my pay grade.
2nd of September, 2008
I was under the impression that - while some of our cells replace faster than others - all of our cells are replaced within 7 years. (I presume rates of metabolism affect this, and I’m no biologist so I have no evidence right now beyond I read it somewhere)
anyway, I don’t beleive the specific cells and molecules are important, only how they go together. It is how they interact as a collective that matters*.
And if we could copy the location and momentum of each and every molecule I believe we would create a second person.
As much a person as the first, and equal in all respects. It kinda hurts our sense of individuality, but I’d rather that than make up a special part of the human body which i can’t detect with a mass spectrometer.
*how we go together and work is really cool. Never mind me not understanding neural networks, the ATP mechanism is cool… Really understanding how awesome our biology is makes one** appreciate the world.
**where I am one.
2nd of September, 2008
I don’t wish to sound obtuse, but it’s not clear to me how you conclude that you believe in a soul from this. I see this as a recognition of instances. The argument about teleportation is that the resulting copy is not measurably different from the original. It’s possible that we can’t externally measure the difference, but that you could if we had not destroyed you.
If I have a photocopy of a piece of paper, I recognise that it is not the original. It also doesn’t mean the paper has a soul. Destroying the original does not make it the original either.
The key stage is the destruction stage. If there is no inherent link between the existence of the second you precluding the original, then they are separate and distinct copies. Two instances, even if you can’t tell the difference between them.
2nd of September, 2008
No, all cells are not replaced within 7 years. Many of the cells in our nervous system are there for life.
And, having had this conversation with you before, I do see where you are coming from. If you destroy the original, the new creation, however identical, is not the same individual as the one destroyed. Soul or not. The question here, for me, is not whether the soul exists, but rather - under the presumption that a soul exists, is teleportation murder?