Perhaps we have to start by asking what a “thing” is. Let’s try the following definition: a thing has the attribute of location in space and time. Further, we might conclude that…
How many minds can one organism have? (Answer: One.)
I was asked this question on Quora: Do the two halves of the brain have wills of their own? Can they dislike each other or fight? Here's my answer: It’s…
“Are thoughts just a bunch of electrical and chemical signals being tossed around inside the brain, or is there more to it than that?”
“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…”
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, CS Lewis
I really like the quote above, which is from the Chronicles of Narnia. It raises a neat little metaphysical question:
Why do we assume that what a thing is made up of is what a thing is?
Is a memory a bunch of atoms? And does this mean we can transfer exact memories?
I was asked the following question on Quora.
Short answer: No.
Modern science has shown that every thing is an arrangement of atoms: neurons, apples, tables, rockets, asteroids, aardvarks… they are all made up of atoms.
The question now is this: is a memory a thing?