dennett’s where am i?. dennett’s “where am i?” cast of characters yorick: dennett’s...
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Dennett’sWhere Am I?
Dennett’s “Where Am I?”Cast of Characters
• Yorick: Dennett’s original brain
• Hamlet: Dennett’s original body
• Fortinbras: second body (Yorick’s 2nd, Hubert’s 1st)
• Hubert: a computer that instantiates Yorick
• Narrator: “Dennett”
Two Things to Consider
• False Dilemma
• Here, There, Now, Today, I
What do these words have in common?
The Plot
Scientists approach Dennett to go on a secret mission to disarm a nuclear device named STUD. The mission could be highly dangerous to Dennett’s brain (but not his body). Scientists have figured out a way to send Dennett’s body (Hamlet) on the mission while leaving his brain (Yorick) behind in the lab.
Act IDennett goes wireless
• Dennett agrees to go. His brain is surgically removed from his body and placed in a vat.
• His brain controls his body via implants, transmitters and antennae. With the flip of a switch, the connection between his brain and his body can be severed. With another flip of the switch, the connection can be re-established.
Surgery is a Success
• Where am I?• Indexicals: here vs. there• Where are his thoughts tokened?
Where is Dennett?
Hamlet YorickPOV
1st Possible AnswerHamlet (body)
• Brain/Body Swap
• Which would he prefer survive, body or brain?
The Body
P1: If Dennett is Hamlet Dennett prefers to go the ⊃
way of Hamlet.P2: Dennett doesn’t prefer to go the way of Hamlet.C: Therefore, Dennett isn’t Hamlet.
Brain/Body Swap
2nd Possible AnswerYorick (brain)
• Suppose Hamlet (body) gets on a train in Texas for CA where he holds up a liquor store. The police capture him.
Which Do We Lock Up?
• Yorick in Texas or Hamlet in CA
If Dennett is Yorick
P1: They want to convict DennettP2: Dennett is YorickC: They must convict and lock up Yorick.
What’s the problem?
Is Dennett Still Free?
The BrainYorick
P1: If Dennett is Yorick Dennett is imprisoned when ⊃Yorick is.P2: Dennett isn’t imprisoned when Yorick is.C: Therefore, Dennett isn’t Yorick.
3rd Possible Answer Point of View
Personal identity is a matter of POV At any given time a person has a POV, the person just is wherever that POV is.
3rd Possible Answer POV
• Dennett (I) heads for Tulsa.• Dennett (I) descends into the earth under Tulsa in
search of the atomic warhead.• Trouble: radio links break down, the body loses all
contact with the brain• Result: shift in POV• Buried alive in Oklahoma --> Disembodied in Houston
Problems
False Dilemma
Act II
• Dennett disarms the STUD. Hamlet is destroyed in the process. Yorick lives on in the vat, but is now deprived of all sensory input.
Act III Enter Fortinbras
• Scientists establish a connection between Yorick and the new body, Fortinbras.
Act III
• Fortinbras vists Yorick and learns about Hubert. Hubert is running alongside Yorick.
• Hubert is a computer program that instantiates Yorick exactly. (If as AI would have it, brain is a computer and the mind is the program then the mind is capable of multiple realizations)
Act III
• Both Yorick & Hubert can interact with Fortinbras. A switch allows either to be in control & there is a feedback between the two.
• Both brains work in conjunction with Fortinbras (the body). They both carry the same stream of memory and consciousness (Dennett’s).
Where is Dennett?
Two Dennetts?
• Suppose someone detaches Yorick or Hubert from Fortinbras and hitches it to some other body?
Grand Finale
• Who has been telling the story?• Yorick and Hubert don’t seem to have the same
voice, don’t seem to share the same identity
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