What are you? What makes you what you are? Your body? Your
brain? Your consciousness? This is the
question we still don’t have an answer for. But let’s try to think about it.
Imagine a situation.
You are a regular citizen of New York living in 2120. Quantum
teleportation has been invented. If you want to get to the other side of the Earth
just step into a small capsule and you’re there. So one day you decide you want
to go to Paris. You buy a ticket, step into the teleportation capsule, it scans
you and then disintegrates you. Somewhere in Paris, another teleportation
capsule receives the signal, and then, from atoms inside it recrates you, every
cell of your body. A few seconds later you proudly step out of the capsule. But
is it really you who is enjoying some wine next to the Eiffel Tower. Or is it
just absolute copy of you, who has all your memories, who reacts in different
situations just like you would react. Did you close your eyes in New York and
open them in Paris? Or that capsule in New York became your grave? Or let’s
imagine another scenario. Something went wrong, and you were scanned but not
disintegrated. The signal was sent, so now somewhere in Paris another you is
walking around. Who is real you then? The original who stayed in New York? Does
a “copy” have a right to live or it should be disintegrated? The problem is that it is really hard to
decide. From other people’s perspective those individuals are absolutely
identical. Moreover, from the point of view of the “copy” he is the real one, since
he has all the memories till that point.
This little thought experiment shows, how social and moral
concepts do not work sometimes when new technology arises, causing us to
rethink seemingly obvious things. It just shows that technologies start to go
ahead of us and the society just can’t keep up with the speed of technological
development and react accordingly. And it is not a new problem. The same has
already happened in the past. I am talking about cloning. In many states human cloning is banned and
even illegal since it is considered unethical. And I think this kind of
dilemmas will appear more and more frequently.
Of course, today teleportation, still sounds like a science
fiction. But the more advance our technologies get, the less implausible it
becomes. Future grants us unbelievable opportunities: teleportation, human
augmentation, the creation of digital copy of yourself. But all of it can turn
into disaster, unless before introducing these technologies we will answer a
simple question. What are we? And as we can see it is not always that easy.
Questions:
1.
What do you think defines us?
2.
Do you think we should clearly understand what
is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
Comments
I don't really think we will ever truly know what we are. And we will keep changing due to technology. If we start using nanobots as a way to fight pathogens or cancer cells in our body, will they become us? Or will we become partly them? There are so many questions and I don't think we'll find the answer anytime soon.
I think that consciousness of being yourself defines each of us. You gave example with teleportation, but don't you think that identical twins are like copies of each other, should one of them be disintegrated?
2. Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
It depends if those future advanced technologies will interfere with our body or its various parts, if so then we should clearly understand what is meant to be us.
Whoever or whatever I am, that heavy philosophy thing is always giving me a headache. I just refuse to process through such questions. But one thing I am certain of -- a perfect clone has yet to be created. The closest result the South Corean steam cell researches have come was 99% clone of the original genom of a puppy. And guess what -- in than one percent of a DNA there was enough differences to make their fur colouring different! Or you could say that real achievements of that research were never published, due to the international conspiracy, and the perfect clones are already walking amongst us.
I agree that we should firstly decide whether these advanced technologies will interfere with our body or not. If yes, than I wouldn’t like to use anyone of them in order to be myself :) Actually all the question are too abstract and it’s hard for technical person to answer them.
I've never thought about that concern. As fas as I know the biggest problem there is reconstruction of ourselves on other side. I hope that scientists will solve this puzzle.
Nothing. We are just a bunch of very complicated form made out of less complicated parts. Our intelligence is a byproduct of evolution that made us that way. Why? Because for some unknown reason, the higher the intelligence the higher the survival rate.
We are just a sum of molecules and they way that they are packed next to each other. After trauma to the head your whole personality can change. The only thing that I would call the one making ME is my brain. But still, it is changing, therefore I am new person each and every day.
2. Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
No. We can't be sure that we fully understand anything. There is always possibility that we are simply wrong. Advance in technologies can only give us more tools to discover new questions and new answers. But the definition of EGO is changing form culture to culture, religion to religion. The only thing that is certain is that most of them must be wrong. But we might never know the truth so why stopping? Show must go on, our advancement as well.
I think that our DNA + our memories/experiences define us. With reference to Your example with teleportation - I think that the other person from Paris is not You anymore...
2. Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
Yes - we should try to understand as much as we can, before it will be too late to determine and set down rules and regulations
In physical point of view I don't know. But from a mental - I think that the way we are describes us the best. Your thoughts, feelings and everything you say is very unique - you are the only one who lives like that. I think this defines us
2. Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
I don't know if we can understand everything, we are only humans and not everything is meant for us. It's a hard topic and I don't know what to say about it.
I don't think advanced technology can interfere with us, or change our minds. I hope that in the future it will be possible to cure cancer in the capsule, all will be available bioprostheses. When chips are introduced into the human brain,mental illness will be healed.
What we are depends strongly on a context of the question, and there are multiple levels at which we can answer it.
In fact, in addition to physiological features, each person is unique in mental terms. If there will be a cellular exchange between two people (as was shown in the video), it’s not a fact that the genetic codes of these people will accept other people's cells. There are a lot of factors that define us as an individual, from the DNA to the psycho-mental set or our subconscious.
2.Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
Honestly, not a simple question. I do not even know which way to approach it, from a philosophical or more scientific one. Good food for the mind, but how useful?
- In my opinion, our personality, believes, ideas and how we interact with other people.
2. Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies?
- Probably there will be a law which defines "Who we are" to clarify this problem. So we cannot sue a company which invited the Quantum teleportation.
2. If this kind of technologies interfere with the human body which are for us unknown, we should proof it first by understanding clearly what we are.
Of course we should understand who we are, because this advanced technologies could give us a power and opportunity to make something bigger. And it always depends on us what we choose.
I believe that teleportation won't be available in near future, even in 100 or 200 years but I won't say it never can happen. But regarding what you wrote, when something goes wrong during teleport and it ports your 'copy' but doesn't disintegrate from start point it's still you, both copies. Same goes for cloning. When you clone yourself and the copy has all our knowledge and memories, then both of you are you.
To be honest, understanding what is meant to be us depends on us. Everyone needs to understand where to belong by themselves.
Yes, I think, we should more or less clearly understand "who we are" before using those future technologies. it's hard question - junction of science and psychology. But, I hope, in future we will have some answers .
2. I think they definitely will. Sooner or later we will reach the point, when technologies will become not only tools for us but our indispensable augmentations. I just hope that we, as a society and humanity, will be ready for that and won’t cause more troubles than good.
Well, I am not surprised about that. Creating an exact copy of any creature, let alone a human being, is not an easy task. Just so many things come into play during the process, since genes a very complex and can cause various mutations. Even the smallest and minor change in genome sequence can cause absolutely different outcome in the whole biology of the subject. So I highly doubt that there is any conspiracy behind it. Most likely we have just not yet reached the full understanding and control over our very “building blocks”.
2. I agree with your statement that we can never be 100% sure that we fully understand something or know everything. There is always a chance that we are simply wrong. But of course, it doesn’t mean that we should stop. As you said, show must go on. We should keep trying to solve mysteries of this world and continue our journey in this universe.
2. Sure. No doubts. I just really hope we will be ready for rapid technological advancements we are about to face.
What defines us are our memories, our actions and how are we expanding "our world". There are invisible chains of fate which are describing who we are, and what are we for in this world. We ourselves are nothing. WE TOGETHER ARE ALL.
Yes, because despite hypothetical assumptions about teleportation, we do not know its impact on our body. In my opinion, this is never possible in the future. I think that's because we have memories in our brain - our entire past until now.
I think, our behavior and decisions defines us. Our body it's only cells, which, as it turned out, contains dynamical DNA too :), but this is only a container for the "soul".
> Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
Maybe, we are somebody's the "future advanced technology" already:) What about the Matrix?
> Do you think we should clearly understand what is meant to be us before using future advanced technologies ?
As I said before we should clearly understand that cyborgs, robots or human AI production is a really really bad idea.