The press had given him the nickname 'worm man,' but his friends knew him as Derek. Scientists had manipulated his DNA to mimic one of the most amazing features of the common worm: the ability to regenerate lost tissue. And it had worked. When they chopped off his hand to test him out, a new one had regrown within in a month.
Then it all went wrong. His body was slowly deteriorating. To save his life they had to transplant his brain into a new body. However, a major mistake during the operation severed his brain in two.
Fortunately, both halves fully regenerated and both were successfully transplanted into new bodies. The only problem was that both the men who now had one of the brains believe they were Derek. What is more, both had Derek's memories, mental skills, and personality. This created problems for Derek's girlfriend, who couldn't tell them apart. It also led to the Dereks getting entangled in a legal battle to claim Derek's assets. But which was the real Derek? They couldn't BOTH be him, could they?
well I think that the side with the original memory banks is the real Derek because that brain would have the real memories not duplicate memories. also I think that none of them are real Dereks because they share different parts of each other but each one isnt a real whole(but i egree with myself for the first part where the full stop is)(full stop marks two diff.paragraphs)
Well technically, don't only certain halves of the brain contain specific things? So it would be impossible that both of them experienced those things originally. And if they had to duplicate it for the second person, they shouldn't have done it in the first place.
Let's get some facts clear. Where we once had one Derek, now we have two (Derek R and Derek L). They cannot both be Derek, because since the split they have been two people, not one. If Derek R died and Derek L lived on, would Derek be dead or alive? Since one person cannot be both dead and alive, Derek couldn't be both Derek R and Derek L.
Perhaps neither is Derek. If the left hemisphere had been destroyed in the operation and only the right had fully regenerated we would surely say that Derek R was Derek. How can a difference in something externally to Derek R stop him from being Derek?
The only remaining possibility is that one or other of Derek R and Derek L, and one only, is Derek. But since they have an equal claim to his identity, why should we pick one rather than the other? An ascription of identity cannot be arbitrary. So, this far all the possibilities seem wrong. But one must be right...
If non of the possible answers to the question is adequate, perhaps we're asking the wrong question. The problem is that we are asking a question about identity over time--a one-to-one relation-- when the ting in question has a one-to-many relation over time. The logic of identity just doesn't fit. We should talk instead about succession or continuation. So, both Dereks are CONTINUERS of Derek.
So the question we should ask is if Derek survived this ordeal. He did. If that is true, it seems that Derek achieved personal survival without personal identity. Of course, ordinary selves do not divide like Derek did. What it suggests is that what matters for our survival is not that identity over time is preserved, but that there is a right kind of continuity between us and our future selves. Then it becomes a question of what we want to see continue. Our bodies? Brains? Soul?
But the point is that what matters for your survival, mine, and everyone's is not the identity over time is preserved, but a deeper, more meaningful continuation. Our physical selves are shells.
They are both the real Derek, or as real as the other. The question of who should get everything would simply lead to the same result. If you give Derek R the essets, then Derek L will behave the same way as Derek R if he had lost the legal battle. No matter who you pic, you get the same results. Therefore it would not matter which one you picked. You might as well flip a coin to choose.
This may not seem fair, but it could be simular as this situation:
2 identicle twins both lose their only father to cancer. His father had no wife or any other family. His will said only "leave everythign to my son." This may bring up a question, which son? The sons are both equaly related to the same father. Both sons have lived with their father for about th same amount of time and had both helped their father equily. There is no way of tellign who deserves their fathers posetions.
Now if this was the case we would most liekly split the will 50/50. As with the Dereks, who are both as much the same as the original Derek as one another, would probaly have to split the essets. You can not split a girlfriend and many other things. This is were you would have to choose randomly who gets the gf adn give somethign of equal value to the other Derek (or as close to equal as can be).
Continueing from what I said, with one Derek holding half of the essets, the other holding the other half. They will most likely argue amongst themselves. The way to resolve this is to pick one of the Dereks and move them away to a new place tolive to start his own life. Over time as the world effects both Dereks in different ways, they will both gain a unique personality once again.
Yeah. I had to go somewhere, but I was thinking of something similar to what Noname said. Once they experience from different perspectives, they would become different personalites and declare their individuality... but I feel something missing right now. I'm not sure what it is...
I believe they both are not him, it's hard for me to explain why I think this, but I'll try my best. Derek was once one person with one brain, if his brain were to split, he would not be able to live. So, he is now dead, the two halves, however, since they are able to regenerate, rebuild the other half so they may continue to live, therefore creating two new people. Neither is the same really, even though everything would suggest they are exactly alike. Did that make any sense?
I see. His thought line broke when he was taken out, signaling the end of his existence. A consciousness from the archives of his dead mind was brought back, but isn't the same, as Derek couldn't think while in the dead state and was tossed away. These two consciousnesses are basically offspring of Derek's old mind and not really him. They are alike but their personality changed the second they took in stimuli from the different enviroments, causing a unique personality once they were brought into existence. Neither of them are alike, even from the start. This is just a response to Raptor, give him the credit. >.o
Yes but when someone dies and comes back to life we still consider them the same person. People will often be considered dead during surgerys were their hearts are stopped for up to a good hour. When they regain life adn wake up with no memory of the surgey but memory of everythign else, we still consider them to be the same.
I beleive that the 2 halves would be the same as the original, but now we are beggenign to debate names which has no right answer. It is kind of like arguing "Is pluto a planet?"
After a while it does not realy matter.
Also Pluto is now a dwarf planet suposedly, though some scientists refuse to call it that and say its a planet still.
well yes, but in my thinking, they are two seperate people because the brain was split up. It is no longer the same brain. It has the same memories and stuff, but that doesn't exactly matter. That's my reaasoning, the brain was spilt, and Derek's life ended, the two brains grew their missing parts and became two seperate entities. That's my reasoning.
There is no happy ending to this. One Derek will get upset if the other gets the assets, and if they split them they will get upset at what the other got. And the girlfriend... well that just can't end happily no matter what. She can't be with one of them, because the other will get upset. And how could you choose between the same person? So they might both be Derek, but neither of them will be the same Derek they were before. Maybe physically, but not mentally or emotionally. That has got to change you up quite a bit.
