<p>Prompt 4:</p>
<p>In a book entitled The Minds I, by Douglas Hofstadter, philosopher Daniel C. Dennett posed the following problem: Suppose you are an astronaut stranded on Mars whose spaceship has broken down beyond repair. In your disabled craft there is a Teleclone Mark IV teleporter that can swiftly and painlessly dismantle your body, producing a molecule-by-molecule blueprint to be beamed to Earth. There, a Teleclone receiver stocked with the requisite atoms will produce, from the beamed instructions, youcomplete with all your memories, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. If you activate the Teleclone Mark IV, which astronaut are youthe one dismantled on Mars or the one produced from a blueprint on Earth? Suppose further that an improved Teleclone Mark V is developed that can obtain its blueprint without destroying the original. Are you then two astronauts at once? If not, which one are you?</p>
<pre><code> When I read the prompt, my stomach was uneasy as if it was going in a 90mph roller coaster, my heart was troubled as if it has been scorched by the hot sun of Sahara but my mind was bungi jumping with uncontrollable exuberance. To be able to understand the human being has always been a lifelong saga of mine.
Of all the organisms, human beings are unique because of their evolved emotions and consciousness. Courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice make a human being, said William Faulkner on his Nobel Banquet speech. A human being is more than a group of atoms, a group of molecules or a group of cells. A human being, says Faulkner, has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. When a human being is such a great force, do Mark IV and Mark V have the ability to recreate you?
While thinking about this relationship, I found myself being part of mathematical functions {y1 = √x & y2 = -√x ; x ≥0} which are symmetric with respect to the x-axis on a Cartesian graph. When {y2 = -√x} is rotated over x-axis, I noticed that the two parts are mirror images. I also observed that for a given value of x, y results as both positive and negative value. Only in Mathematics, I always taught. But, I was mistaken. Only in Mathematics, Mark IV and Mark V.
When I analyze the situation on Mars with regard to Mark IV, I have concluded as following: I am the man dismantled on Mars and not the one produced on Earth. The mathematical functions {y1 = √x & y2 = -√x} can be used to explain this phenomenon. My body { y1 = √x } was swiftly and painlessly dismantled, and a mirror image was created on Earth { y2 = -√x } based on my bodys blueprint. When we analyze the values of y1 and y2, we see that they are opposites even though the same blueprint, x, was used.
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<p>My memories, my thoughts, my feelings, and my opinions are like a book. The author, who writes the book, will have an in-depth understanding of the book. Each moment, character, setting and conflict in the book has a purpose that the writer deeply understands. This understanding of my memories, my thoughts, my feelings and my opinions embellishes my soul, gives it a tangible shape that is unique.<br>
Whereas my mirror image on Earth is but a reader of the book. He may read the book, but he does not deeply understand it, or at least not at the level of the writer. He may know my memories, my thoughts, my feelings and my opinions, but it remains to be seen how much of it he truly absorbs.<br>
In regard to Mark V, I have concluded that I am the astronaut on Mars. Like the functions {y1 = √x & y2 = -√x}, myself and the mirror image resemble newborn twins with same DNA and same physical attributes, but for every value of x, y1 = -y2 . The cause for this dramatic change in the y values is the environment that surrounds us. I am stranded upon Mars, and so will undergo new experiences that are outside the realm of the mirror image. I am sitting in the capsule scratching my head, hoping against hope that help arrives and desperately trying to repair the ship. Similarly, the mirror image is taking a deep breath of fresh air and experiencing the feel of the green grass under him for the first time.<br>
The mirror image may have my memories, my thoughts and my views, but he does not know to do with them. He is like a child who had read books all his life and begins to work. I can see him dumbfounded, his hands and legs shaking, his mind unable to think and wondering what he is doing there. Having the ability to apply the knowledge is completely different from knowing the knowledge. Similarly, my mirror image knows my book, but his degree of understanding and application differentiates him from me.
Transferring the code for an organism does not mean the same as transferring the organism. Unconscious atoms, molecules, cells, organs or even memories can be created from a blue print, but they do not mean anything unless one understands them and applies them. I can imagine my friend, the mirror image, writing the first chapter in his own book, his own saga.</p>