When are we not ourselves?

[FatAndFaithless]

The bottom line is you are not the same person that grew up in your parents house. Your parents are not the same people that raised your former self.

Everyone is a copy of themselves that walks around with the illusion that you are you.

When you die you don't really die in the sense that you are familiar with. You die atom by atom everyday. When you die in the traditional sense all that happens is there will be no more copies of you being made.

Erm, okay, I suppose that's true. Again, not sure why it causes any sort of consternation. I already knew I'm the same person (physically or mentally) that I was ten years ago or ten minutes ago.

Life is really unimportant and an illusion. Nothing you do or say means shit. You are not even you.

I have no idea how that follows.

[GrandizerII]

Not sure, and doesn't matter. We don't live in such a fantasy world anyway.

We will one day when transporters are invented.

Even so, you still have to consider the ethical issues as well. But regardless, if or when it happens, then we can consider those questions more thoughtfully to solve those problems. But in the present, it's just something fun to think about for a while when you're bored and have nothing better to do. But, like FatAndFaithless, it's really irrelevant in my present life. And I'm not bothered at all by the concept of the self not being clear. I've long accepted it's a construct that is really useful and practical for us as we interact with others, and it doesn't bother me one bit. I'm still me, regardless.

[GrandizerII]

The bottom line is you are not the same person that grew up in your parents house. Your parents are not the same people that raised your former self.

Everyone is a copy of themselves that walks around with the illusion that you are you.

When you die you don't really die in the sense that you are familiar with. You die atom by atom everyday. When you die in the traditional sense all that happens is there will be no more copies of you being made.

Life is really unimportant and an illusion. Nothing you do or say means shit. You are not even you.

Existential crisis? Don't fret, it'll pass. I was like that when I first heard of the Many Worlds Interpretation. Took me a while to get over it, but I'm back to happy now.

[Whateverist]

The bottom line is you are not the same person that grew up in your parents house. Your parents are not the same people that raised your former self.

So what? For that matter, before we were born we assembled ourselves in the womb from materials provided by our mothers. Just another extraneous fact like the one you mention. Bottom line: so what?

Everyone is a copy of themselves that walks around with the illusion that you are you.

Is the original you under any less illusion?

When you die you don't really die in the sense that you are familiar with. You die atom by atom everyday. When you die in the traditional sense all that happens is there will be no more copies of you being made.

Strange as that may seem to you, it makes no difference to me.

Life is really unimportant and an illusion. Nothing you do or say means shit. You are not even you.

This doesn't follow from anything else you've said. Your argument is basically of the form:

P1 Extraneous fact
P2 Extraneous fact

C What you already believed, but unrelated to P1 and P2.

[ohreally]

They say we have every cell in our body replaced every 7 years. Are we the same person then? It's like the ship of Theseus. Replace every component and it's not the same ship.

Since we are not the same person, the old person died and we are simply a copy. Why should we even fear death? We die every day one cell at a time. Every aspect of you today will be dead in a few years and replaced with a copy.

What are your thoughts on this?

Your blood cells are replaced about every 120 days, fat cells about every 12 years, oocytes never, many brain cells never.  

Regardless of knowledge of cell replacement, to go through life thinking that you don't change over time seems a little naive.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Physically no we are not the same person consciously in mind we are since we don't shed brain cells. 
in other words yes we need to eat that snickers.

We might not shed brain cells but every atom in each cell is replaced so it's not the same cell.

Source?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think the sense of self is an abstract, emergent property of the human brain.

"Me" is not defined by cellular composition, in other words. "Me" is amalgam of admittedly imperfect memories ad relationships.

The OP is essentially a recast 747-in-a-junkyard point.

[ignoramus]

What if our material self is completely irrelevent?
What if we really are biological support systems for our consciousness?

Sometimes I feel like that, but I cannot accept it.
I cannot accept how evolution could or would want or need this.
We are just animals, right? Walking meatbags who have learnt to help one another as a means of survival.

[KUSA]

We might not shed brain cells but every atom in each cell is replaced so it's not the same cell.

Source?

There is a lot of Google reading you can do but here is one article.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...d=11893583
The body replaces 98% of the atoms each year.

[KUSA]

What if our material self is completely irrelevent?

Then we wouldn't need a body.

What if we really are biological support systems for our consciousness?

We are. However when the body dies, so does the consciousness.

Sometimes I feel like that, but I cannot accept it.

You sound like an Atheist.

I cannot accept how evolution could or would want or need this.
We are just animals, right? Walking meatbags who have learnt to help one another as a means of survival.

We are just rotting meat. Each day that goes by you get more rotten. You know that old people have a distinct smell of rot? Look it up. Old people all have that smell. You will have that smell one day if you don't blow your brains out when you are still somewhat fresh.