From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!athena.cs.uga.edu!aisun3.ai.uga.edu!dnute Fri Oct 30 15:18:11 EST 1992
Article 7437 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: dnute@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Donald Nute)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Simulated Brain
Message-ID: <1992Oct29.155839.17338@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 92 15:58:39 GMT
References: <1992Oct27.112157.24723@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE> <1992Oct27.182833.15332@oracle.pnl.gov>
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Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens
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In article <1992Oct27.182833.15332@oracle.pnl.gov> d3g637@pnl.gov writes:

>I know someone who was hit by a car.  His frontal area was damaged. When
>he recovered (after about 6 months) he had become another person.  He sometimes
>even refers to his previous self in the third person (although I'm not sure he's
>not just being humorous).  This would seem to support the thesis that the
>mind (or soul) is structural and therefore a result of the current "wiring" of
>the brain. Change the wiring and you change to mind.
>
What do you mean, "He became another person?" Do you mean he behaved
differently? But did he remeber events from before the accident? Is
there any continuity in his behavior patterns? We use this phrase
"became another person" to easily when what we mean is that someone
changed their ways. We certainly hold them responsible for what they
did when they were the "old person", though, even though we may
forgive transgressions truly repented. The point is a person can
change drastically without becoming a different person. I am not
arguing, though, that these changes don't or can't result from
changes in the brain. I view the mind as a function of the brain,
and indeed of the entire body. Having two hands and two feet and...
is perhaps as important as having a brain. People with different
bodies are different kind of people.


