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Jiro comments on The horrifying importance of domain knowledge - Less Wrong Discussion

15 Post author: NancyLebovitz 30 July 2015 03:28PM

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Comment author: Jiro 05 August 2015 03:17:36PM *  2 points [-]

The answer is that the group of things that we typically mean by "are you a chimpanzee" is not the same as the group of things that we typically mean by "are you a woman". The chimpanzee version contains more things that depend on the mind than the woman version.

Imagine a different version where we transplant your brain into the body of someone with red hair. In that case, you would indeed be a redhead.

Also, imagine that (assuming you're not Chinese) we transplanted your body into a Chinese person's body. Are you then Chinese? It is plausible that you aren't Chinese in this situation--but unlike in the woman example, that does not extend to thinking that a "transracial" person in a non-transplant situation is a real thing.