# A person and their brain

Consciousness and identity is something not yet understood, but there's a lot of philosophy about. There are many who would argue that an exact copy of you is still you. They have your exact memories, personality and more, with the only difference at the time of duplication being the physical position they are in.

The reason they think it's no different derives of your brain. The brain is in constant motion, both recreating and updating itself. Imagine having a tiny rowing boat called 'Two Oars'. You build it bigger. It is now a sailing ship. You build it bigger. It is now a three masted galley. Is it still the Two Oars? It still has that beginning in there. Much like a child to an adult brain, it is now something different, while still somehow being the same to everyone.

We now call our boat 'Three Masts'. A sail rips and is replaced. Tar is reapplied. Planks need renewal. The rigging is done in the new fashion thanks to technological progress. The steering wheel has broken. At one point the whole ship is made out of new parts. Would that make it still the Three Masts, or something different? If someone secretly kept all materials of the ship and build another exact replica. Would it be a new ship? Would it be the Three Masts?

This exact problem happens with people. We grow, we age, we get new neuron connections. Hell even when we're hungry we have a wholly different way our body reacts, and thus are personality, compared to when we've eaten. Or if we are sleepy or angry or happy.

That is why it is currently ok to say that a duplicate is still you, or a different person. It depends on how you look at it. We have no definitive answer and it doesn't look like we will soon (or ever) get a solution.

My personal idea is created out of my own experiences. I say it is a different person, a duplicate and that the old one is killed. I say it because identity is more important to me. As an identical twin it is more important to make such distinctions. I am not my identical twin, even if the world has had a lot of trouble seeing it my way. They've seen the same person for years in both of us. We're all a product of our experiences on that regard.