• bizso09
    58
    Let's describe a world with four people in it. Alice, Bob, Cecil, Dan. In addition, there is You in this world. Now consider two distinct scenarios:

    Scenario 1: You are Alice. This means that you have access to Alice's thoughts, feelings, perception, and can see, hear, feel through her body.
    Scenario 2: You are Bob. This means that you have access to Bob's experience, etc.
    The question is, what is the difference between the two scenarios?

    On the one hand, there is a huge difference, since Your perception of the world is not the same. In fact, Your entire experience is completely different. Since You are part of the world, that means there is a difference in the two scenarios, which concerns Your experience.

    On the other hand, there is absolutely no difference between the two scenarios. There are still only four people in the world, and each of them have their own respective experiences, thoughts, feelings and perceptions. Alice is still Alice, just like Bob is still Bob, in both cases.

    Therefore, we identified a difference in the world, which is how You experience it, yet at the same time we have shown that this You we are talking about is actually nothing. Does that mean that the world is fundamentally self-contradictory?

    I've attempted to prove this with Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/share/a28d43a1105c
  • bert1
    2.2k
    Great puzzle

    In terms of structure and function, are the two worlds identical?
  • ChatteringMonkey
    1.6k
    The concept of a 'you' that is not embodied is the issue. 'You' cannot be Alice and Bob without real physical changes in the world.
  • bert1
    2.2k
    'You' cannot be Alice and Bob without real physical changes in the world.ChatteringMonkey

    What physical change would change you from Alice to Bob? (I may have misunderstood your intended meaning)
  • ChatteringMonkey
    1.6k
    I am neither.

    I think a 'you' already implies a particular biological being so that you cannot just transport a non-physical kind of essence of a 'you' that stays the same to another body.
  • bert1
    2.2k
    I think a 'you' already implies a particular biological beingChatteringMonkey

    Implies by virtue of the meaning of the word 'you', or by virtue of a theory of what it is to be a you?
  • Corvus
    4.7k
    there is a huge difference, since Your perception of the world is not the same.bizso09
    Does that mean that the world is fundamentally self-contradictory?bizso09

    Difference is not self-contradiction. Contradiction means true and false at the same time. Experiences are meant to be different, and it is the nature of experience, not self-contradiction.
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