Let’s consider the issue of just who I am, and who the new Ray is a little more carefully. Like the water in a stream, my particles are constantly changing, but the pattern that people recognize as Ray has a reasonable level of continuity. After each procedure, I claim to be the same guy. If we talk about consciousness as just a certain type of... See more

Consciousness is subjectivity: my sense that there is a Charles Foster who is distinct from other beings. And distinct, indeed, from my own body. The Charles Foster that I have a robust conviction that there is, is me in a way that my body is not. Lots of the cells that presently make up my body did not exist last week and will be dead next week,

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The mismatch between past and present doesn’t seem trivial to me — if the “you” of today can so blithely disregard the “you” of yesterday, then it follows that the “you” I’m talking to now might very well not be the one who shows up for our date tomorrow. There’s a kind of unpredictable change that seems to lie outside of the virtues of growth and... See more