The Illusion of Continuity of Self

Are you sure you're the one who went to sleep last night?

I am no philosopher, nor a researching scientist. At least not yet. But I have a piece of mind, and I’d like to share it with the world. Today I’d like to write about what’s been buggering me for quite some time. I've pondered on it on and off and it’s quite a fascinating idea. It’s on the subject of the illusion of continuity of the self.

Whenever we start talking about technology such as the Transporter from Startrek, or the act of uploading one’s mind, or downloading one’s mind into a new body, we start asking questions like “I’m not sure the guy who pops out of the other end of the Transporter is the same guy who went in.” or “How do I know it’s me that wakes up inside that new digital realm that I’m going to upload myself into?” or “What does it feel like to download myself into a new body? Does it feel like going to sleep and waking up the morning?” and I've asked myself these questions, too.

Having thought about it, I find that I have this urge to want to make sure that if I’m the one stepping into that Transporter, I want it to be me that wakes up on the other side of that teleportation device. I have this fear that it may not be me who wakes up the other side. I want to make sure that my consciousness is continued, like going to sleep and waking up the next morning. I’m pretty sure it’s still the same me that went to sleep last night, right? Right?

Ummmm…… I’m not so sure now.

Maybe these fears of ours’ is unfounded.

Perhaps the continuity of self is an illusion.

Let's try a thought experiment.

Let’s try a bit of an amateurish visual thought experiment.

Older … … … |A1|A2|A3|A4| … |B1|B2|B3|B4| … |C1|C2|C3|C4| … … … Newer … |Z9|

Each combination of letter and number between the 2 sticks represents a small enough time window in which nothing in our body has changed. So for example, during the discrete time of A1 no new neurons have fired, they are exactly where they were at the start of A1 and also at the end of A1. Your state of mind, everything inside your body, is slightly different from A1 when the time hits A2. The state of your body is slightly different in every discrete time window. As time progress, your state of body changes little by little, going through phase A1, A2, A3 … and finally you get to phase Z9 which is your current exact state of body and mind.

Now let’s say, you went to sleep at exactly the moment of A1 and you slept through A2, A3, … , B1, … , C4, … and finally you woke up and regained consciousness at Z9.

I wake up, it’s a new day, I don’t remember everything but I do remember enough to be able to fully operate in this society, my brain and physiology might be slightly different from the past but no problem, I’ve only changed slightly. Everything’s fine, really, I insist!

Now think back on how you went to sleep last night. Did you worry that when you were going to wake up the next morning someone else might wake up in your place? Not exactly, you were most likely pretty fine with going to sleep. But in reality, that’s exactly what happened. A1 went to sleep, and A1 never woke up. Instead, Z9 woke up. Right now you are Z9, and in a strict sense, you are not A1. Someone went to sleep last night, but he didn’t wake up, someone else woke up! You are Z9, but you also happen to think that you are A1 because you have most of A1’s relevant memories.

I guess memories are like glue. They bridge the conscious gaps and help create this illusion of continuity of self.

In a sense, that guy who went to sleep last night never woke up, and someone else woke up in his place, complete with his memories. The continuity of self is an illusion. You just happen to be the latest rendition of that neural storm inside your brain.

There’s a powerful quote by Sam Harris in his book Free Will(2012).

You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm. 

So back to our transporter and mind uploading problem. You should be no more afraid of beaming yourself through the transporter or uploading your mind than you are of going to sleep at night. Will you be the one to wake up on the other side of dreamland? No. The guy who went to sleep will never wake up. But someone else will wake up and he will be you. You've been doing this countless times over the days ever since you were born.

You are not the A1 that went to sleep, you are the Z9 that woke up. So stop victimizing yourself. You are not the victim. You are the perpetrator. And soon, as soon as you go to sleep today, you shall fall victim to the next Z9 in line.