I forget now, which one of these people was me?
I'm not so sure this week's thought experiment is possible, but let's try to entertain it anyway.
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Alicia clearly remembers visiting the Parthenon in Athens, and how the sight of the crumbling ruin up close was less impressive than the view of it from a distance, perched majestically on the Acropolis. But Alicia had never been to Athens, so what she remembers is visiting the Parthenon, but not her visiting the Parthenon.
It is not that Alicia is deluded. What she remembers is actually how it was. She has had a memory implant. Her friend Mayte had been to Greece for a holiday, and when she came back she went to the Kadok memory processing shop to have her holiday recollections downloaded to a disc. Alicia had later taken this disc back to the same shop and had the memory uploaded to her brain. She now has a whole set of Mayte's holiday memories, which to her have the character of all her other memories: they are all recollections from the first person point of view.
The slightly disturbing thing, however, is that Mayte and Alicia have exchanged such memories so many times that it seems they have quite literally inhabited the same past. Although Alicia knows she should really say that she remembers Mayte's holiday to Greece, it feels more natural simply to say she remembers the holiday. But how can you remember what you never did?
Source: Section 80 of Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit (Oxford University Press, 1984).
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 88.
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I'll be back on Friday to discuss my thoughts on this. Or someone's thoughts. I don't know if I can tell anymore...
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Alicia clearly remembers visiting the Parthenon in Athens, and how the sight of the crumbling ruin up close was less impressive than the view of it from a distance, perched majestically on the Acropolis. But Alicia had never been to Athens, so what she remembers is visiting the Parthenon, but not her visiting the Parthenon.
It is not that Alicia is deluded. What she remembers is actually how it was. She has had a memory implant. Her friend Mayte had been to Greece for a holiday, and when she came back she went to the Kadok memory processing shop to have her holiday recollections downloaded to a disc. Alicia had later taken this disc back to the same shop and had the memory uploaded to her brain. She now has a whole set of Mayte's holiday memories, which to her have the character of all her other memories: they are all recollections from the first person point of view.
The slightly disturbing thing, however, is that Mayte and Alicia have exchanged such memories so many times that it seems they have quite literally inhabited the same past. Although Alicia knows she should really say that she remembers Mayte's holiday to Greece, it feels more natural simply to say she remembers the holiday. But how can you remember what you never did?
Source: Section 80 of Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit (Oxford University Press, 1984).
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 88.
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I'll be back on Friday to discuss my thoughts on this. Or someone's thoughts. I don't know if I can tell anymore...
