Raymond Kurzweil - What is the Nature of Personal Identity?

Look at an old photo. Then look in the mirror. Those two images are of the same person, right? How so? They don't look the same. Their memories are different. And virtually every atom in their bodies is different. We feel unity across time, but is this solidified sense of self an illusion? If not an illusion, what enables personal identity?



Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, inventor, futurist, and director of engineering at Google.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[lisarand]

This is one of the most open minded and highly intelligent people I have ever been in agreement with about these thoughts...

[thomasridley]

We are not the only animals that has a sense of self. Any advanced mind develops a sense of self.
At what level of awareness does the self becomes the defining component of the mind body system ?
From the moment of birth everything we do is an expression of our inner self trying to express itself.

[phaidonsofianos]

You are doing an excellent job with your "Closer to Truth" videos. Thank You.

[pjber]

Love this debate. In essence they are getting down to the question of do we have a soul or not. Are we mere guests in a body. If Ray kurzweil cannot answer these questions, nobody can.

[mmo]

One possible way to make sense of why we experience our own experience rather than someone else's is that in some sense we are our experiences.

[bjlyon]

Our biggest mistake is believing that we are only a collection of memories. We are consciousness. Consciousness is aware of memories but it is not memories.

[md.fazlulkarim]

Retrieving some memories relevant to personal identity always gives our personal identity to our conscious mind.

[cvsree]

Personal identity is in our mind which is independent of body
And Self is independent of mind
Giving up body and mind identity is the goal of spiritual realisation

[ConnoisseurOfExistence]

Yesterday when I watched this, I thought Kurzweil is avoiding part of the question. Robert was saying, that even if there is a copy of you, which feels like yourself, you'll still be yourself in your own body, so there must be something unique to the matter making up your body. But today I gave it some ore thought and I saw what Kurzweil was saying. If I send you a copy of my CV, than we bought will have exactly the same CV on 2 different places and we don't make big deal of that. OK, so I understand that a configuration of information, no matter how complex it is, can exist in more than 1 place. Yet, I do think that there is some uniqueness associated to every place in space and every moment in time. This is not so say that a copy of a human wouldn't be alive and aware in the same way as the original, because it would be. Rather that a coordinate system can be set in the whole spacetime and each point will have its unique location.

[hassanmostafa]

I love how Ray dealing with the sad fact like he is ok with it .. his reactions. makes the sad fact not sadly at all 11:00

[Beevreeter]

I doubt very much that what constitutes a person will ever be able to be transferred to a computer... We are much more than the sum of our parts. Our experiences and psychologies are far more than mere memories, and it is these that determine identity and personality.

[IAMD]

I don’t know if you covered this topic?: What is Imagination. Are humans the only species to imagine. What is unique about the imagination we have as humans. If you covered this topic I would like to see it.

[ezsparky]

I miss the early days of Closer to Truth videos when there were panels of experts sitting down and having discussions/debates on an issue. I liked listening to the verbal back and for responses between the different members on the panel.

[suncat]

As to Ray's question at the very end: "Why am I **ME** and not some person in Ethiopia?" Answer: YOU ARE. There is only ONE consciousness having an infinity of different experiences.

[kumarmanchoju]

Hats off Ray! you have a clear picture of these Ideas

[micronda]

According to the 'Many Worlds' theory of quantum physics, its already happening. Exact duplicates of each of you (and me), branched off into another world, umpteen times during the program, due to radioactive decay, etc.. I reckon I clicked the like button in each world so you all will be okay ;)

[GlaciusTS]

I agreed with Kurzweil for the most part, though I would word it differently. What he leaves out is WHY he is a pattern, and the reason is that we deem it such. We are a species build heavily for pattern recognition. We place labels in familiar things. So we identify patterns within our own sense of identity and say “this is me”. The patterns exist objectively, but which patterns are assigned a specific identity and how much is decided subjectively.

[abhishekshah]

Sentience is an emergent property. Sentience has a basis in the many moving mechanical constituents it's made up of. The basis of consciousness is not emergent. That conclusion itself was formed inside a consciousness, so to make such a statement and assign it a truth value, one must first postulate consciousness itself.

[SRAVALM]

We are creating who we are -- our experience within this reality. Defined are we from the commitments we make. Are unique journeys are forging our character and path ahead.
I try not to identify myself with anything of the material world so I'm not condemned mentally, emotionally or physically in the since of limiting, constricting or constructed thought found, revealed or made only in this realm or density. I identify self with the Sun; so Spirit, emotion & intuition I revere more than ever. I try to reckon in people their being, light, emotion, heart which I admire.

[Farsider]

🤔….well, what’s really REALLY amazing is that Ray didn’t use the word “exponential” during this interview….. not even ONCE!