Quote from: kmfkewm on December 28, 2012, 11:06 amQuote from: SelfSovereignty on December 28, 2012, 10:18 amI'm amazed that anyone who's experienced how powerfully a simple chemical can influence their own awareness could think for a second that we continue when our brains have ceased to function. This view boils down to 'I am the neural network that is my brain'. I wonder how do you explain that identical twins are not the same being? They share the same genetics, their brains will be essentially identical until nurture molds them differently. There are minor differences between twins, for example they have different fingerprints due to their unique movements inside of the womb I believe, but in any case they are essentially the same thing from a physical perspective. Over time they will develop into different people as nature and nurture both share a role in determining who we are, but the original neural networks of both twins will be nearly identical. To me this indicates that our self, at its very core, is more than our brain. Certainly our ego is tied entirely to our brain. Our memories, opinions, etc...they rely entirely on the brain. But if your brain is identical to your twins brain, and you are your brain, it seems as if you are your twin. And we know that twins are separate beings, so I have trouble to believe that this is truly the case.An even better example would be more in the realm of science fiction, but imagine that a perfect copy of you is created. Down to the smallest detail, at the point in time when this copy of you is created, it is entirely identical to you. Do you think that you and this copy of you are the same person? There are two beings that will interact with the world, two beings that will see through their own eyes, think their own thoughts. Certainly you will be extremely similar, at first you will be exactly similar and then over time you will likely drift apart due to environmental differences in your experiences....but it is apparent that you will be two different people and have two different selves despite sharing the same structure of brain, the same set of memories, etc.Your thinking appears -- and please, pardon me if I'm wrong -- to be predicated on an assumption that you provide no explanation of: that there's some kind of long-distance connection between the twins' brains. Of course they aren't the same person, because their cells aren't connected to each other.Think about something: your brain doesn't function perfectly at all times. Yet you continue to think you're "you," as do I. Infact I don't even notice, other than pondering my current thoughts and deciding that I'm more or less "coherent," or "intelligent," than usual. I assume this is due entirely to having done it thousands or millions of times and having the memories to compare to. But that doesn't mean that the loss of a single cell, or temporarily poorly functioning collections of them, makes me a different person. I don't even notice. Now how can I not notice? Because I'm the sum of all the interconnected parts of my brain, and if I lose one, I lose some piece of my consciousness but can hardly tell the difference except by comparison.Honestly, I'm not sure why you'd think that twins with identical brains would share a consciousness when they aren't physically connected?