“Control” might be the wrong word. Even if that sociopath can’t control his actions, there is still someone inside there that is able to, at the very least, observe what is going on as he’s killing someone. I can’t be inside his head and observe this because it is his self, not mine.
As I see it: Every DNA is different from every other.
Hence every sperm, every egg, and every fertilized egg is different from any other.
When grown sufficiently beyound the very early stages continues to be different from every other one and develops individuality.
Even “identical” twins," from a single fertilized egg) are not identical in any respect other that similar characteristics.
Each has a unique consciousness, self awareness, and personality.
Er, no. Each sperm holds HALF a potential child. One sperm + zero ovum = no child.
Okay, observe I buy. Consciousness, I think, is in a sense the ability to observe oneself and one’s thought processes - something animals don’t seem to have.
Sorry, should have been spermatozoan, not spermatocyte. They come (snrk) earlier.
Sure, but every single thing that ever happened to us, regardless of whether it was a biochemical process or just a mechanical one, could have happened differently - often in a vast multitude of ways that would compound out to an even greater vastness of subsequent possibilities. We are what we are because of everything that has happened; if things had been different, they’d be different, perhaps to the extent of ‘us’ not being here, or being radically different from the way we are now.
But the point is that, were that the case, the current version of ‘us’ would not be floating around wishing we existed, any more than the other possible versions of ‘us’ that didn’t come about are doing so.
Or to put it another way; deal a hand of cards; you got the cards you got - they could have been different, but this doesn’t deprive all the other possible hands of cards of anything; something had to happen, is all; the other possibilities didn’t occur because the one did.
Man, if the op is getting torn up about this, I shudder to think how he’ll handle teenage curfews.
What are you talking about? It’s quite simple. Teenage sons will have their cars followed whenever they leave the house, and teenage daughters aren’t allowed to date until they are married. And then only under supervision.
Gee, this thread is two days old and no one has brought up chimeras.
from Wikipedia
I think mis-matched is a poor choice of words. They’re distinguishable, especially when one gene line produces one color of hair or skin and the other produces another. AFAIK the parts work together just fine.
So you have not only two different gene lines (different eggs as well as different sperm), but you have two lines and only one consciousness. My guess is that a consciousness is produced by an active brain of a certain complexity, but that the genes are only relevant in that they produce that brain. It is theoretically possible to have a consciousness created by a brain produced with something besides DNA (alien life form).
So you’re not me. But you’re not not me because your genes are different. You’re just not me.
Does anyone have any way to bring quantum into this?