What would the difference be?

Well, to an outside observer maybe nothing. But to the person who is trying to jump bodies...I'd say everything. It means he - the original - dies, and his copy lives on. Doesn't seem worthwhile.

Doesn't seem worthwhile.

It is if you choose the host body well. I could stand an upgrade.

It is if you choose the host body well. I could stand an upgrade.

I don't know if a copy of you is necessarily you. Seems like continuity would matter.

Consciousness doesn't just reside in the brain. It's the brain's relation to the body that determines the whole person (I think). So new body, equals different person. (In my estimation.)

I'm not sure I buy that theory, David. Consider - you can do serious damage to almost any part of the human body without necessarily altering the personality of the person in question, while even minor brain damage or chemical imbalance can permanently and profoundly change the same person's personality.

It would be nice to think that the self doesn't reside just in the brain, but that may in fact be the case after all.

I think the latter would be like Hugh Jackman in THE PRESTIGE - suddenly there are two of you, rather than you jumping your mind into another body.

But both of them are you. What happens to you after the fact doesn't make one more real than the other, so how do you determine which is the original? That was central to The Prestige -- was the "original" teleported, and a copy was created where the original had been, or was a copy created some distance away? There's no way to tell.

So new body, equals different person.

Where do organ transplants fall for you? I mean, beyond horror films or Angel the Series episodes where clearly the evil resides in the bits.

[edit: I fall in the line of thinking where *you* are basically only located in your brain and the rest is just muscle memory.]

I fall in the line of thinking where *you* are basically only located in your brain and the rest is just muscle memory.

What if, and this has nothing to do with Dollhouse, an exact copy of the brain is made. Can you duplicate the self that way?

an exact copy of the brain is made. Can you duplicate the self that way?

Twins? Not exact in experience but pretty close (generally), and genetically exact. Yet, quite different.

Twins? Not exact in experience but pretty close (generally), and genetically exact. Yet, quite different.

but they do not have the exact same experiences. similar, but not exact.

::ponders::

Hmmm, no. I don't think so. I think I used brain earlier as a shorthand (in my own mind, as well) for "brain + consciousness = person."

So, I don't think that an exact copy of the brain would duplicate the self. I think duplicating self requires the consciousness. And while I don't think that consciousness is in any organ beyond the brain, I don't know if it is only in the brain.

Hmmm, things to think about.