pbr@MCNC.ORG (Peter Reintjes) (03/24/89)
I replace all of the individual particles in my body at regular intervals (about every 7-10 years) whether they need airing or not. This seems very much like the transporter that finds "identical" particles for reassembly at the other end. This makes me think that there is something about continuity that makes this particular executing copy of my consciousness important to me (incremental replacement is okay). But speaking of continuity of conciousness, whenever I get up in the morning, I should probably spend a minute thinking about that poor fellow (very much like myself) that went to bed the night before not knowing that he was at the end of his "continuity stream of consciousness". Of course, I am much better off (looking backward) because I have all of his memories, and the "stream" before him. As long as I don't think about tomorrow. Of course, overnight we have continuity of sub-conscious (whatever *that* is), so maybe it isn't so bad. Still, something would keep me from stepping into a transporter that was going to dismantle me (no matter what id did with the pieces). Call me irrational. - Peter Reintjes Microelectronics Center of North Carolina [ The opinions expressed are not necessarily mine, because it's late and I've already gone to bed. And no, id wasn't a typo ]