We started by having a discussion about your responses to First Class Travel - interesting indeed! We had responses including:
Teleportation = a way of dying. Body and mind no longer exist during the process, therefore from a Materialistic (materialism) point of view, one cannot be alive, hence cannot be considered a person.
Teleportation = is a quick way of cell replacement in the same way that nature replaces most of our cells in a seven year cycle, therefore it's not equivalent to dying.
Teleportation = the experience of teleportation does not change the ultimate outcome wherein one's personality/mind/spirit etc. remains intact therefore it's not equivalent to dying.
Teleportation = we can ignore the idea of the "goo" in the process as that's total fantasy. But the idea of dismantling and then reconstructing the same cellular structure through teleportation only accounts for a physical replica and the same human potential, in fact we couldn't even tell if someone had been through the teleporter.
Then I asked everyone to consider the questions, "What is a Person?" and "What is Personal Identity?" as we watched this video of an orangutan behaving like a human. Discussion followed.
Then, still keeping in mind the questions, "What is a Person?" and "What is Personal Identity?" watch this video clip from a lecture of Susan Savage-Rumbaugh discussing Bonobo monkeys and her challenge to us to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology -- and how much by cultural exposure.
Then a discussion of this question: "What is more important to your personal identity: Mind (Consciousness) or Matter (Brain & Body)?
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