Dialog from Chapter 7 of "The Singularity is Near", by Ray Kurzweil

Pages 380 - 882.

RAY: We can debate what sorts of entities are or can be conscious. We can argue about whether consciousness is an emergent property or caused by some specific mechanism, biological or otherwise. But there's another mystery associated with consciousness, perhaps the most important one.

MOLLY 2004: Okay, I'm all ears.

RAY: Well, even if we assume that all humans who seem to be conscious in fact are, why is my consciousness associated with this particular person, me? Why am I conscious of this particular person who read Tom Swift Jr. books as a child, got involved with inventions, writes books about the future, and so on? Every morning that I wake up, I have the experiences of this specific person. Why wasn't I Alanis Morissette or someone else?

SIGMUND FREUD: Hmm, so you'd like to be Alanis Morissette?

RAY: That's an interesting proposition, but that's not my point.

MOLLY 2004: What is your point? I don't understand.

RAY: Why am I conscious of the experiences and decisions of this particular person?

MOLLY 2004: Because, silly, that's who you are.

SIGMUND: It seems that there's something about yourself that you don't like.' Tell me more about that.

MOLLY 2004: Earlier, Ray didn't like being human altogether.

RAY: I didn't say I don't like being human. I said I didn't like the limitations, problems, and high level of maintenance of my version 1.0 body. But this is all beside the point that I'm trying to make here.

CHARLES DARWIN: You wonder why you're you? That's a tautology, there's not much to wonder about.

RAY: Like many attempts to express the really "hard" problems of consciousness, this is sounding meaningless. But if you ask me what I really wonder about, it is this: why am I continually aware of this particular person's experiences and feelings? As for other people's consciousness, I accept it, but I don't expe- rience other people's experiences, not directly anyway.

SIGMUND: Okay, I'm getting a clearer picture now. You don't experience other people's experiences? Have you ever talked to someone about empathy?

RAY: Look, I'm talking about consciousness now in a very personal way.

SIGMUND: That's good, keep going.

RAY: Actually, this is a good example of what typically happens when people try to have a dialogue about consciousness. The discussion inevitably veers off into something else, like psychology or behavior or intelligence or neurology. But the mystery of why I am this particular person is what I really wonder about.

CHARLES: You know you do create who you are.

RAY: Yes, that's true. Just as our brains create our thoughts, our thoughts in turn create our brains.

CHARLES: So you've made yourself; and that's why you are who you are, so to speak.

MOLLY 2104: We experience that very directly in 2104. Being nonbiological, I'm able to change who I am quite readily. As we discussed earlier, if I'm in the mood, I can combine my thought patterns with someone else's and create a merged identity. It's a profound experience.

MOLLY 2004: Well, Miss Molly of the future, we do that back in the primitive days of2004 also. We call it falling in love.

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