Sinia pondered:

"The word 'heart' that people use in everyday context should refer to consciousness, but in fact, the physiological organ that carries consciousness is the brain, not the heart, which is responsible for sending blood."

"Since all the memory information stored in the human brain is the basic building block of human consciousness."

"In my opinion."

"The mind refers to consciousness, and the essence of consciousness is the transmission, recording and storage of material information."

"Therefore, this information is also a material reality."

"Therefore, consciousness is an abstract manifestation of the aggregation of information in the material world, and it is manifested as a conceptual 'mind' in people."

Xuan Yuan nodded:

"You're right some, but not all of them."

Xinia tilted her head with some curiosity:

"Why?"

玄远says:

"If, according to you, the mind is consciousness, consciousness is only composed of information from the purely material world."

"So, let's do a thought experiment."

"If there's a person right now, we'll call her A."

"A has all your memories, emotions, cognitions, including all the information related to your consciousness, and no matter what you test from any material angle, A is exactly the same as you, and there is no difference from you in any aspect of the material plane."

"Then, I ask you."

"If you could live a hundred years at no cost, would you do it?"

Xinia nodded, "Of course she does!" ”

Xuan Yuan continued:

"Then I'll ask again."

"As long as you are willing to die at this moment, the A who is exactly the same as you in terms of material information will not only inherit the rest of your time, but even live an extra hundred years, so are you willing? Do you think it's an increase in your lifespan? ”

Sinia hesitated:

"I do subconsciously feel resistant, I don't want to."

"It felt like I was dead, someone else who had nothing to do with me living for me, not myself."

Xuan Yuan smiled:

"In the face of this problem, normal people will feel the same resistance as you, it is difficult to psychologically produce a kind of happiness that you have lived for an extra hundred years, and it is difficult to choose to agree without hesitation."

"If we say, mind = consciousness = material information aggregate."

"So, why can't you subjectively feel self about A? Why can't you accept that A is your own? ”

"You obviously have exactly the same material information, why would you be reluctant to let you die to increase A's life?"

Sinia fell into deep thought:

"Indeed, why is that?"

Without waiting for Sinia to think too much, Xuanyuan continued to throw out the next question:

"Next, switch to another situation."

"If the original you died in an accident, from the moment you died, a living A was born, and A was exactly the same as the previous you in all information levels, even the psychological reactions."

"Suppose, you are the A who exists at this moment, and the original you have died unexpectedly, then I ask you."

"So, would you be willing to let yourself die at this moment, and let the self that originally died by accident come back to life and live in your place?

Sinia sighed:

"Logically, there should be no difference between me and A, so whether A is alive or I am alive, there will be no difference."

"But from my personal emotional point of view, from A's point of view, I still don't want to."

Xuan Yuan smiled:

"Let's take it a step further."

"Actually, you didn't die accidentally at all, you just fell into a state of suspended animation temporarily, and after A has appeared and lived for a while, you are awake at this time."

"As a newly awakened you, are you willing to choose self-destruction and let A live for you forever?"

Sinia shook her head and said, "Still unwilling." ”

Xuan Yuan smiled:

"Did you find out?"

"In these cases, there is actually one thing in common."

Sinia put her hands on her knees, held her cheeks and asked:

"What do you have in common?"

Xuanyuan said lightly:

"Perspective."

"When you exist in the physical world at the same time as A, you will find that there are two different perspectives between you and A at the same time."

"So, when the problem puts you in your own observational perspective, your decisions tend to be biased towards preserving yourself rather than preserving A; But when you're in A's shoes, your decisions tend to be as good as A's instead of who you are. ”

"I'll give you one more example, and you'll understand."

"Suppose, in an accident, your body is paralyzed, but only consciousness is intact."

"At this time, through some kind of technology, all the information of your consciousness is extracted, and then a new body is copied for you, and when all the information of your consciousness is transferred to the new body, we call you A."

"Tell you, A's consciousness can never leave the new body, nor can it return to the old body, and the consciousness will be destroyed with the destruction of the new body."

"Now, you have to choose between the old body and the new body, which is the same as a vegetative person, to continue to exist and destroy the other."

"Do you not hesitate to choose to let the new body exist and let the old body be destroyed?"

"After all, it makes sense to do so."

Xinia nodded.

Xuan Yuan clapped his palm:

"Herein lies the problem."

"Suppose I change the scene a little bit."

"Actually, your old vegetative body still retains your complete consciousness information, and the consciousness in your new body is actually a perfect copy of your existing consciousness, but no one tells Replica A that she is just a simple replica."

"So, now that you, as a native consciousness who has just awakened from the old body of a vegetative person, will you agree with A's decision to destroy the old body and let the new body continue to exist?"

"If it's not Clone A, it's up to you, who have come back to consciousness from your old body, to choose."

"At this time, what will you choose?"

It dawned on Sinia:

"Then I would definitely choose to keep my old body instead of keeping A's new body."

"I get it."

"In other words, when I answer your question, the 'I' at that moment puts my perspective on which individual I will have a perception of the 'me' and make a decision to try to protect the 'me'."

Xuan Yuan nodded in appreciation:

"Yes, you understand very quickly."

"Your sense of self is about the continuity of the perspective of consciousness."

"For example, I just gave you this scene."

"At first, your perspective is not interrupted, but you just switch the perspective of consciousness from the old body to the new body, so when you are faced with the choice between the old body and the new body, you can not hesitate to abandon the old body, officially because your conscious perspective is in the new body."

"But when I tell you what's going on, you realize that the perspective of consciousness that originally existed in the new body is only the perspective of the consciousness of the clone."

"And your true conscious perspective is still in your old body, but it is interrupted by a coma in the middle of it."

"The continuity of your consciousness has not changed since awakening, it has always remained coherent in your old body."

"At this moment, as the person answering the question, your conscious perspective will also shift to the old body, so that you will identify with the old body, and you will not be willing to choose to give up the old body."

"Because, at this time, your consciousness perspective has entered the old body, and choosing to abandon the old body is equivalent to abandoning the consciousness perspective of your existence at the moment."

Sinia suddenly realized:

"I see!"

"It's no wonder that when I was faced with these scenes, I made inconsistencies over and over again."

"Actually, my choices have always been internally consistent."

"That's what I've been trying to keep all the time about this conscious perspective, not trying to keep something other than this conscious perspective."

(End of chapter)