Are we more than the sum of our memories?
This question has bothered me for some time.
I definitely would like to think that we are.
I recently watched a show in which the main protagonist dies at the end.
However....... there was another version of her and she was able to transfer her memories into that version. We are supposed to then accept the fact that she still lives because her memories have been transferred.
Source: Giphy.com
It's supposed to be a happy ending but I'm really bothered by it because it seems to me that the version of her that died actually died. The memory transfer simply means that there's an extra set of memories out there but that they don't actually have the soul and the original personality of the first character.
I've been a Buddhist for about 15 years.
I grew up going to a Catholic school and I know many priests and pastors personally.
It's nice to have philosophical discussions with them.
Most Buddhists believe that we don't actually have a soul but instead are completely mind.
It's a little more complicated than that though because when Buddhists talk about the concept of "mind" they are sort of also talking about the soul because otherwise how could you possibly get to Nirvana with just your mind?
Would a Buddhist believe that transferring one's mind is essentially transferring the thing that we called the soul?
I don't believe that so I can't tell you. I happen to be an American Buddhist so I have no idea what a Chinese or Japanese Buddhist would believe. Their beliefs might be different.
_Source: Giphy.com
Some of you might have seen the movie called Chappie.
If you didn't that I'm going to spoil the plot right here so you should probably stop reading this if you want to see it.
A robot gains true intelligence and then becomes obsessed with transferring the human mind into a robot.
He eventually does transfer a human's mind into a robot and we are supposed to accept that the human mind that is transferred into the robot is that same actual human.
He has transferred the essence of the human from the body into the robot.
That makes me ask the question. Are we more than the sum of our memories?
Source: Giphy.com
I believe if I had a robot dog and I transferred my dog's memories into it that it would be very similar to the actual dog.
It would want to go outside even though it wouldn't need to. It would want to be fed. It would want to be petted.
Sometimes when I'm petting my dog he will give me this particular look in the eye and then roll over and show me his belly.
I wonder if the robot dog would do that?
Would a robot version of my mom want to meet me every week and also give me hugs that were meaningful?
Would you be able to create a complete version of yourself from only your memories?
If you take a person's memories away completely they would definitely stop being the person that they are.
I don't think anybody could dispute that.
However, if you were to take a person that had no memories and you were to transfer another person's memories into them would they then become that person?
If this eventually becomes possible then it could be the key to eternal life.
That world would probably become a nightmare to live in because everybody would do it and it would just be a place where people would murder each other constantly since there is no real reason not to murder someone since they can just be brought back to life again and again.
I'm not sure if we'll ever have the answer to that question.
I still find myself completely bothered by it though.
Are we more than the sum of our memories?
Chappie made me cry and think for entirely different reasons. I was really interested in how he absorbed the culture around him. Here are some of the questions I asked as I was watching it, intended for use when I showed it in a high school classroom:
What makes us human? If you put human consciousness in a machine, is it a machine or is it human? If you split your conciousness into 3 bodies, are they still you? Or are they different people? What is conciousness? What is a soul? How does this play into culture? What is right and what is wrong? Why? Who decides? How does culture help a person determine right from wrong?
This is a really interesting idea to think about. It kind of made me think of people who have had heart transplants and later take on traits the former heart owner had. Like stories of people taking on the personalities or eating habits of their donors. link to an interesting article. Some people believe that who we are as people (our memories, personality traits, etc.) are stored in our cells so if a part of us (like a heart or lung) is put in someone else then our cells will transfer our essence to the new body so part of us continues to live.
I think that the brain stores a big part of who we are but I also think that the rest of the body plays a role as well. Our genes are a blueprint that tells the rest of the body how to work. If you take a person's mind and put it into a robot that is only one element of the self. The robot wouldn't be able to taste or experience other sensory features. On another note you could take a person's cells and clone them but that new person wouldn't be the original person without their memories. I think the mind and the body equally make up the self of a person. Okay...that was a long response. I could go on and on because that is a very complex question. lol
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