Half a brain is better than none
Just look at the morons I have to teach.
Apparently today we’re transplanting Derek Parfit’s brain to someone or something else’s body. It seems fair enough to say that it’d still be him. He might have some problems controlling the body of a quadruped using a human brain, and he wouldn’t be able to speak, but he could scratch words into the earth such as, “Help! I’m being eaten by lions!”
But Derek (who’s an Oxford man I see from a little online research) has so many brains (as they all do at Oxford) that he’s suggested that if half of his brain is all that’s necessary, then each half could be transplanted into a different body and we’d have two of him.
Assuming that both halves of the human brain have the same functions (which I believe they don’t) and store identical information about the original person, then there really would be two of him. After all, the same piece of software can be installed on computers made by different manufacturers. My copy of Quake or Heretic II or PSP 7.04 can be installed on any machine. The software remains the same in all cases.
Thus, my body is insufficient as the means by which to define me. Someone might see me and find me physically attractive, but as a person find me utterly repugnant. It’s something I’ve noted in the past myself. There was this Welsh woman at Manchester who had yet to finish her thesis, but was lecturing. She was gorgeous. I happened to go for a drink with her and a friend of mine one evening, which was a sufficient demonstration of her personality to convince me that I wouldn’t have wanted a relationship with her.
But Derek (who’s an Oxford man I see from a little online research) has so many brains (as they all do at Oxford) that he’s suggested that if half of his brain is all that’s necessary, then each half could be transplanted into a different body and we’d have two of him.
Assuming that both halves of the human brain have the same functions (which I believe they don’t) and store identical information about the original person, then there really would be two of him. After all, the same piece of software can be installed on computers made by different manufacturers. My copy of Quake or Heretic II or PSP 7.04 can be installed on any machine. The software remains the same in all cases.
Thus, my body is insufficient as the means by which to define me. Someone might see me and find me physically attractive, but as a person find me utterly repugnant. It’s something I’ve noted in the past myself. There was this Welsh woman at Manchester who had yet to finish her thesis, but was lecturing. She was gorgeous. I happened to go for a drink with her and a friend of mine one evening, which was a sufficient demonstration of her personality to convince me that I wouldn’t have wanted a relationship with her.
Tomorrow, the black sheep of the family and metaphors of dubious validity.
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