I have found (there is some (evidence)[http://mentalfloss.com/article/52586/why-do-our-best-ideas-come-us-shower] to suggest this) that showers are a great place to think. While I am taking a shower I find that I can think about things in a whole new perspective and it's very refreshing. Well today, while I was taking a shower, an interesting thing popped into my head. Memory is everything. Your memory contains you, it contains your thoughts, it contains your own unique perception of reality. Imagine going to bed tonight and waking up with absolutely no memory of your past. Would you still consider that person yourself? There is no question that our memories/experiences influence our behavior in every possible way. If you were born in a different environment with different stimuli you would've responded to your environment differently and became a different person. How different? I don't want to get involved in the nature/nurture debate but I think there is no question that humans are influenced by their environment. How are humans influenced by our environment? Through learning from our past experiences, which are contained in our memory. I'm getting off topic and I have no idea what my point is... So I propose a thought experiment!
Omega the supercomputer gives you 3 Options. Option 1 is for you to pay Omega $1,000,000,000 and Omega will grant you unlimited utility potential for 1 week in which Omega will basically provide to your every wish. You will have absolutely no memory of the experience after the week is up. Option 2 is for Omega to pay you $1,000,000,000 but you must be willing to suffer unlimited negative utility potential for a week (you will not be harmed physically or mentally you will simply experience excruciating pain). You will also have absolutely memory of this experience after the week (your subconscious will also not be affected). Finally, Option 3 is simply to refuse Option 1 and 2 and maintain the status quo.
At first glance, it may seem that Option 2 is simply not choosable. It seems insane to subject yourself to torture when you have the option of nirvana. But it requires more thought than that. If you compare Option 1 to Option 2 after the week is up there is no difference between the options except that Option 2 nets you 2 billion dollars compared to Option 1. In both Options you have absolutely no memory of either weeks. The question that I'm trying to put forward in this thought experiment is this. If you have no memory of an experience does that experience still matter? Is it worth experiencing something for the experience alone or is it the memory of an experience that matters? Those are some questions that I have been thinking about lately. Any feedback or criticism is appreciated.
One last thing, if you are interested in the concept and importance of memory two excellent movies on the subject are [Memento](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/) and [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/0). I know they both of these movies aren't scientific but I thought them to be very intriguing and thought provoking.
I think if we rephrase the scenario to be slightly more plausible and familiar, it will become clearer to people:
Imagine that some eccentric millionaire approaches you with the following deal: she will give you a million dollars if: You agree to go to a dentist and undergo a root canal operation without anesthesia (nevermind the fact that you probably don't need a root canal), BUT: You DO get to have a heaping dose of Versed, which, while it won't dull the pain during the operation, will prevent you from remembering anything about it after the fact.
Would you take the million dollars and do the operation? I would!
Now, as to the question of whether the person undergoing the root canal operation is the real me, I would say, YES! I will experience it. Now, is the copy of the pre-operation me that gets restored after the operation also me? I say YES! I will also experience that body.
Ultimately, the deciding factor for me ends up being the fact that the root canal will only take an hour or two of extreme pain, but the million dollars will bring me enjoyment for far longer. The fact that I won't remember the root canal operation does nothing to influence my estimation of how bad the root canal operation will be. The fact that I won't remember the root canal operation only changes my estimation of how pleasant the post-root canal experience will be (because I will know that I won't be haunted by nightmares of root canal pain while I am enjoying my million dollars).
Even though the memory of the root canal operation will cease to exist for me at some point, the experience still factors into my overall calculations of utility. It's just that normal events that we remember factor into our calculations of utility in two discrete terms: how nice/bad they are in the moment + how nice/bad their memory after-effects are. In the case of amnesia, you are just lopping off the right hand side of that sum.
Sure. But that is strictly a different - and much less extreme - though experiment than the former. I wouldn't treat the narcotized me as a different person. There is a lot of continuity in this szenario. And a lot of real-life risks and consequences too.