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Originally Posted by Vivisectus
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Originally Posted by peacegirl
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Originally Posted by Vivisectus
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It may be true that our bodies get recycled or used for fertilizer, or become nutrients for others, but this still doesn't explain a greater truth; that YOU, not the same individual, will always be here to say "I wonder why I was born at this time in history, and not some other time" as long as mankind is able to reproduce himself.
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When populations grow beyond the size they were before, where do the extra "I's" come from? |
Extra "I"s? I don't understand what you mean. |
Well, if the population grows, only a part of the current population can be made up of people who were the same I but had a different identity. Let us say that in 1900 there are 100 people, but in 1920 there are 150.
Where did the 50 extra "I"'s come from if they did not keep going? And is there a difference between new "I"'s and recycled ones?
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Originally Posted by Vivisectus
Also, when extinction events dramatically reduce the size of the human population (as they have done in the past), where do the extra "I's" go?
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Again, I don't know what you mean? I believe you are thinking that the "I"s get replaced from a previous "I", which means there would be leftovers. That's not how it works.
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Ok, so how does it work and what happens to the surplus ones?
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Originally Posted by Vivisectus
Also, what exactly is it that makes a consciousness "I"? If there is no memory, or indeed no causal link at all between a future and a present "I", then what is it that makes that future I the same I as the one that exists now? What distinguishes it from a completely different "I"?
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What distinguishes it as a completely different "I" is the fact that it is a completely different "I". You are still trying to connect "I"s, which is not what Lessans is saying. This is not about not remembering the past YOU. There is no relationship between any "I" and the YOU that you are now.
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Ok, so it is not memories. But what does distinguish an "I" that was another "I" before from one of the brand new ones that never existed before?
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Any update on this? |
The only thing that distinguishes one "I" from another are our personal characteristics, which we come to know as we become conscious of our own individuality.