Vsauce, I’m Jake and thank you for visiting because I have been stuck in
this chair for weeks. Why you ask? Let me tell you! It is because of this! What is that? Well my dear friend, as you may know I have cancer and to try and stop it from spreading, they removed a lot of
flesh, muscle, tissue and bone and replaced it with something else…and that got me thinking, about what makes you you. Which then in turn got me thinking about paradoxes. Specifically logical paradoxes or thought experiments. Ya know there is one in particular that pertains to the removal and replacement of certain
things…let's go outside Quick little side note: I also figured out
teleportation but we’ll discuss that later…ya know you should come out here too. So we can discuss the ship of Theseus! The ship of Theseus is pretty straightforward
as far as logical paradoxes go. Let's say we have a ship, and it's a very nice ship. But after a while we end up replacing all the wood and then a while later we replace the sails, then a while later we replace the hooks.
Is it still the same ship? Or is it a new ship? A different ship? let’s go a step further. Let’s say we
kept all the pieces of this ship that we replaced And used them to make another ship...an identical one. Is this one the original or is this one? Or are they both not original? What makes something truly original? I need some sand. Here I have what I would consider a heap of
sand which leads us into our next logical paradox. The Sorites paradox. Sorites in ancient
greek meaning heap. So, we have our heap, right? But what happens if we take away a grain of sand? Well, it's still a heap. But then we take away another grain… Still a heap. But then we
take another, and another, until we get this. Is this a heap? What about this?
Or this? If we remove a grain until only one is left…is this still a heap? At what point
do we no longer consider it a heap? Let’s reverse it. We start with a single
grain of sand. Obviously not what we would call a heap. But then we add a grain and another,
and another. When does it become a heap of sand? Ya know, instead of using objects as our examples,
let’s discuss a paradox that instead, uses words. We interact with words every day but today
we are going to focus on just two words, autological and heterological, these are essential for
The Grelling-Nelson Paradox. An autological word is a word that describes
itself. For example: pronounceable is pronounceable, polysyllabic is polysyllabic, and a noun is
a noun. Then there is heterological where a word does
not describe itself. For example: purple is not purple, triangle is not a triangle and
hyphenated is not hyphenated. The paradox comes into play when we ask the
question: Is the word “heterological” heterological? If you say no, then heteorological does not
describe itself. And if it’s not heterological then it must be autological and describe itself.
but if it is autological then heterological describes itself and therefor heterological
is heterological. Paradox. If you say yes, heterological does not describe
itself then that means heterological is not heterological. Paradox. Let’s try something. Let’s combine aspects
of the ship of Theseus and the Sorites paradox and apply it to ourselves. Even though part
of my leg was replaced I am still me, right? If my entire leg were removed, I’d still
be me. So at what point am I no longer myself? How much would have to be removed for you
to no longer be you? Or is what makes us us our memories of who we are and of who we were?
For example, you are different than when you were a baby. Obviously you are taller, a little bit heavier, you
have different hair, different teeth, and all of your cells have been replaced since birth. I mean your personality has changed. Your opinions have changed…so how are you the same
person? Ya know...maybe we should lay off the teleportation for a little not just because of that but also because I've been thinking of something...the teletransportation paradox. Let’s say we have a machine that
can teleport you from here to there. In order to transmit you though, the machine kills
you and instantly breaks you down into all the atoms that once made you up. It then transmits
all the data of what you were to another machine in a different location which remakes you.
Putting different atoms in the right spot. So the question is, is the person who went
into the machine the same person coming out of the other machine? You have the same memories,
the same thoughts, but everything that physically makes you is different. You’d remember everything
up to being teleported and reemerging on the other side - everything in between would be
lost. So, is it your identity, your emotions, feelings and is it your thoughts that make you you? Ya know, you should come a little bit closer. When you wake up in the morning, how do you
know that you’re the same person as who went to sleep? How do I know that when I close
my eyes, is the same Jake opening them? Maybe every time we open our eyes we are being
created again and again from the idea of who we are…from our sense of identity. And, as always, thanks
for watching.
Can some one please tell me what the song is at the end? I can't find it anywhere.
damn son