"This is my great grandfather's sword. This same sword has been in our family ever since it was forged in 1865 and it is still as deadly as ever. There, feel the balance. Every one of us has wielded it in battle. It has taken good care of us, and we've take good care of it. My grandfather replaced the hilt. My father replaced the blade. And I myself have changed the pommel, scabbard and all else but blade and hilt."
Is identity discrete or continuous? Is an identifier only meaningful if it can be applied in a binary fashion "It either does or does not match a particular object", or could it be meaningful to say "Well, that sword is still 75% your great grandfather's sword."
I think identity is a continuum, that (quite rightly) gets approximated to a more discrete measure as required by circumstances.
Are you the same person today as you were twenty years ago? Did you think the same, act the same, believe the same? Is your memory perfect, or do you think your memories of that time will have since been shaded? Would you now still bound by a promise you made when you were 6? Do you think it reasonable that you still be judged by the reputation that you had when you were 6?
I am not my body, my name, my activities or my affiliations but all these things affect who I am. I am not identical to my history. I am more than my conscious self - the things that go on in my brain below my awareness are still part of me. One way to look at it would be to say that I am that thing that makes and keeps contracts - I am everything that I identify with sufficiently that I would keep a promise on its behalf. I am not my reputation but rather that whose reputation may be fairly laid at my door and which I own to.
Who am I?
I am an ever mutating swarm the collective decisions of which cast a shadow on the outside world coherent enough to make it useful to refer to on an ongoing basis by a single identifier: Douglas Reay
no subject
Is identity discrete or continuous? Is an identifier only meaningful if it can be applied in a binary fashion "It either does or does not match a particular object", or could it be meaningful to say "Well, that sword is still 75% your great grandfather's sword."
I think identity is a continuum, that (quite rightly) gets approximated to a more discrete measure as required by circumstances.
Are you the same person today as you were twenty years ago? Did you think the same, act the same, believe the same? Is your memory perfect, or do you think your memories of that time will have since been shaded? Would you now still bound by a promise you made when you were 6? Do you think it reasonable that you still be judged by the reputation that you had when you were 6?
I am not my body, my name, my activities or my affiliations but all these things affect who I am. I am not identical to my history. I am more than my conscious self - the things that go on in my brain below my awareness are still part of me. One way to look at it would be to say that I am that thing that makes and keeps contracts - I am everything that I identify with sufficiently that I would keep a promise on its behalf. I am not my reputation but rather that whose reputation may be fairly laid at my door and which I own to.
Who am I?
I am an ever mutating swarm the collective decisions of which cast a shadow on the outside world coherent enough to make it useful to refer to on an ongoing basis by a single identifier: Douglas Reay