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jhuffman comments on Life is Good, More Life is Better - Less Wrong Discussion
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Its not an argument in favor of death, but one thing I still struggle with is the notion of identity - what does it really mean to say that I might live for a thousand years if there is nothing in that future mind that I would recognize now as my own? I'm not advancing this as an argument as I know there are problems with drawing any conclusions from it but I cannot dismiss it entirely either. Yes there is not a single day that I'd say I wasn't me yesterday, or that I don't expect to be me tomorrow. But I also wouldn't put any money on myself retaining a single aspect of myself that I would presently describe as essential to my personal identity.
I have thought about that as well, but then couldn't you say the exact same thing about growing up? I mean I am in some ways vastly different from the 5-year old me, but still I share my past me's memories, and memories of becoming present me. In that sens I guess you can view a person as a symbol, "I" encompassing all "me", past, future and present. But I agree it is problematic especially if you take into account possible mental enhancements/engineering.
I'm not sure memory - in so far as memories of stories and people's names and so on - is even essential to personal identity. I guess my real problem here is that I don't know what to make of identity, full stop.