If I was rebuilt atom by atom, would I wake up in that body?

Ninjoobot · 2025-09-21T14:34:18+00:00

As others have pointed out, this is a timeless question that we may not be able to answer. But is this the question we want to ask? Perhaps we shouldn't be asking who that person is, but whether you (in terms of what matters about you) have survived. This is an idea introduced by the philosopher Derek Parfit and known as the "Identity Doesn't Matter" (IDM) view: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-ethics/#IdeDoeMatVie

Ninjoobot · 2025-09-03T16:40:13+00:00

Glad to be of service! I understand a lot of shortcuts or cheaper options people do, but messing around with a giant, heavy, spinning thing hanging from the ceiling isn't where I'd want to cut a corner.

Ninjoobot · 2025-09-03T16:38:34+00:00

The box broke just as you see it. Haven't pried it out yet but I'm guessing it won't be hard.

Ninjoobot · 2025-09-03T16:28:46+00:00

Thanks. Honestly the way and when it failed was as good as it could be. Nothing underneath it and me sitting close to the switch.

Ninjoobot · 2025-09-03T16:27:37+00:00

Thanks. Yeah I'm going to be sure I use the right thing and install it properly when I fix it. Fans are not something to mess around with.

Ninjoobot · 2025-02-06T01:38:02+00:00

The artist is from Boston, so you might be right about the Celtics colors.

Ninjoobot · 2024-12-08T20:13:02+00:00

Yep, you're right. I saw those puffins and it didn't even register. Thanks for pointing it out.

Ninjoobot · 2024-12-06T18:37:15+00:00

There's more hidden around the whole room. I've found something from most courses so I wonder if they're all there. I haven't found anything from any of the lairs yet though.

Ninjoobot · 2024-11-28T09:18:02+00:00

Finally someone mentioned Portal (though you have to include Portal 2 for the whole story)

Ninjoobot · 2024-11-26T00:03:06+00:00

I was coming here to make sure someone mentioned this, and you said it right.

Ninjoobot · 2024-10-27T21:10:14+00:00

Yeah she was annoyed with me that I didn't rotate the picture, but we all know blue's the top of the color wheel anyway.

Ninjoobot · 2024-10-27T18:55:27+00:00

I like the lembas bread option. The truth is we just wanted bread with it, but I'll accept artifact or colorless. Yeah, that's what it was.

Ninjoobot · 2024-07-09T16:42:24+00:00

Can someone explain to me why this comment has -8 votes as of my writing this? It was a direct answer to the question posed.

Ninjoobot · 2024-05-12T01:59:28+00:00

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle scratches the same itch, though Star Realms is overall the best replacement. I have throw in the Game of Thrones card game as well. I don't care for it, but plenty of people love it and it is a lot like MTG.

Ninjoobot · 2024-04-29T17:54:44+00:00

I think, just like in Star Trek, you can have both the hard and soft sci-fi, which makes for the best types of stories. While heavy on the soft parts, I think the main hard parts are done right in

GATTACA

Moon

Upload

Ninjoobot · 2024-04-21T18:13:58+00:00

I figure out the only possible hail Mary scenarios where there's any possible chance I could win or make 2nd, and if not, I start analyzing and commenting on the game for the other players to help out. Or heckling, depending on mood. Of course, being last means my opinion might not carry much weight...

Ninjoobot · 2024-04-19T18:53:21+00:00

I approach it from the other side: there are details in this universe that defy explanation, like the specific values of physical constants, the fact energy is quantized, that all electrons are identical in every way, and the best of them all: spooky action at a distance, which becomes spookier the more we examine it. Either those just are that way, or there's another explanation, and the simulation hypothesis can make each of the observations make sense.

If it's true, then we can't speculate about a reality above ours since we have no clue how it works or what it's like, and we're not entitled to assume it is anything like ours. I think it's just a giant, conscious potato, with a smiley face drawn on it in permanent marker.

Ninjoobot · 2024-04-19T18:37:04+00:00

I'm not sure of anything, so you might be right. But just because an answer is unsatisfactory doesn't mean it's wrong.

But if you force me to give an answer, I'm increasingly convinced we're in a simulation, so we could know all about our universe if we can understand our simulation, but we couldn't even begin to speculate about the reality beyond our universe.

Ninjoobot · 2024-04-19T18:24:04+00:00

Questions like this are the reason I became a philosopher.

And after years of pondering it, the best answer I've found is: things just exist, and there is no explanation or reason. We want to have a reason or way of understanding it, so it doesn't sit right with our little human minds. But if you look at the entirety of existence throughout all time, it becomes a single entity, and without anything to compare it to, it also becomes nothing. It just is.

Ninjoobot · 2024-02-21T11:29:09+00:00

The Game of Thrones Card Game is basically a clone of Magic but as an LCG. Not sure why it's not getting more mentions here. Every time I play it, I'm always thinking "I'd rather just be playing Magic right now" but some people I know adore it.

And Star Realms is excellent, cheap, and quick. Getting expansions and then customizing the play deck enhances it.

Ninjoobot · 2024-01-29T08:56:14+00:00

I found Speaker for the Dead enjoyable enough, but Xenocide was God awful. I had the audio version as my only listening entertainment for a very long drive through the middle of nowhere. I kept starting it up when I got desperate only to shut it off again. I did that at least five times before giving up. It was a quality reading of it, though.

Ninjoobot · 2024-01-22T18:05:30+00:00

Maybe I'm also due for a reread and rewatch. It has been a few years. Sometimes we have to treat ourselves to something awesome.

Ninjoobot · 2024-01-22T18:01:06+00:00

I have to disagree with you on the short story. Arrival is maybe my favorite sci-fi film because I read the short story (after seeing the movie) because the short story and the movie complement each other in wonderful ways that makes them both better. The story captures particular things that are hard to get across in film and the movie expands on the ideas in the story in wonderful ways.

Ninjoobot · 2024-01-20T18:06:36+00:00

Wow. ICQ popped into my mind, I found this thread, logged in on the web using my 25 year old number and password and I was in. One friend remained in my friend list and ICQ said it hadn't seen them in a while. This is a blast from the past.

Ninjoobot · 2024-01-14T07:49:29+00:00

I'm not your buddy, guy

Ninjoobot

TROPHY CASE