๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐, ๐๐ผ๐? ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ‘๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐๐’
Imagine that you went on a long journey on the sea
Across the years, you end up having to replace or repair the broken parts of the ship.
So much so that when you sail back home, every single component has been replaced – Is the ship then the same as the original one you sailed away with?
Now, imagine another scenario
You are sailing with a brand new ship and end up in a ship wreck
You end up rebuilding a similar ship – Now, is this the same as the original ship?
Theย ship of Theseus, also known asย Theseusโ paradox, is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object.
The paradox is most notably recorded by Plutarch inย Life of Theseusย from the late first century. Plutarch asked whether a ship that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship.
As we increasingly move towards brain-machine interfacing, I wonder what makes us, truly us – what happens when we are AI augmented?
Will that spur a new hierarchy of haves vs have nots?
I am currently reading this sci-fi – ‘Mickey 7’
The basic premise is simple – the protagonist is an ‘expendable’ recruited on dangerous intergalactic missions
One that is biologically recreated – that is, after one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.ย
“If I die, you can always make another me”, he says.
The thing with Sci-Fi is – unlike most fiction, these are akin to thought experiments – what if questions that man (or woman) tends to ask
Until it is true.
I don’t know the answer to if Mickey 8 is the same as Mickey 7
Because, it is truly a difficult question to answer – What makes us, us?
****************************
#reviewswithranjani #35/52 #Booksof2023
#Technology | #Books | #BeingBetter