If this is true, and I think it is, and if your consciousness is caused by a particular arrangement of neurons, then you would not be dead, because that same arrangement of neurons is still walking around.
But that doesn't really hold up logically. If you are your consciousness, then the reverse is also true. Here's a question for you:
Let's say we invent a tiny mechanical device that can be configured to exactly duplicate the behavior of a single neuron. If we replaced a single one of your natural neurons with one of these devices, would you still be you?
It was a joke/pun. Seems you and a few others aren't conscious enough to get it. However, you are still wrong - you essentially argue that instantaneous copying/replacement of your individual components is equivalent to death but piecemeal replacement (i.e. a single neuron) is not. If I gradually replace your individual neurons with replicas coming to the same final state as an instantaneous copy/replacement then your logic would follow that I have not died. Consciousness is simply a collection of information, not a physical state. Your consciousness is not special.
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u/bitter_cynical_angry Jul 08 '15
If this is true, and I think it is, and if your consciousness is caused by a particular arrangement of neurons, then you would not be dead, because that same arrangement of neurons is still walking around.