>>>And I wouldn't be calling those "parts of myself". I am a body. I am a mind. It's not what I HAVE, it's aspects of what I am. Or else who would be the one to ask "who is it that does the having of the mind"?
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>>You contend then do you, that if your brain were removed from your head, you would still have all your knowledge, intuition, faith etc?
>
>Pretty much yes, except for the last. I have only trust there, that Murphy won't take a day off :).
>
>>In other words, your mind would pretty much be unaffected?
>
>I didn't say there. If my physical aspect is changed, it WILL affect my mind. If I were to be uploaded into a virtual space, or were to be transplanted into a different body or whichever displacement you may want to imagine, it'd still be me, in a way, just a different me.

You think so? I think that if you were uploaded into a different body, the mere fact that you would be inhabiting a different brain with it's differently forged neural pathways, you would be in fact, a different person. Your thought processes would be entirely different. Your outlook on life would be different. Your entire attitude would be different. I know it's nice to think of this in the standard SF way, but afaic, a different brain would render you a different person. For all you know, you might end up as a republican. I guess this means I remain unconvinced of the existence of the aspect we refer to as the 'spirit'.

>I feel this connection between these aspects all the time - I cannot think straight if I didn't sleep well, my blood pressure may rise for a minute if something I hear starts my adrenaline, I may be thinking of food if I'm hungry or I may become hungry when we talk about food. It goes both ways for me, and I don't think I'm any exception at that.

I don't see anything in any of that that is not strictly biological.

>>Sorry, my mind is a manifestation of how my brain works - physically. There isn't any metaphysics, spirit, call it what you will, involved.

>But there is - it's a process in your brain. You start thinking about life, universe and everything, you're going metaphysical. You start thinking about your relationship with the rest of your species, you're shaping your spirit, i.e. your private set of attitudes, behaviors, ways of thinking.

Hmmm... no, I think that when I think about that stuff, I'm simply forging new neural pathways. I don't see anything metaphysical in thinking about metaphysics. Nor do I see anything spiritual in it.

>If for any reason you may have thought that I envisioned a spirit of a person as something that may exist separately from that person, sorry for the confusion - I had no such intention.

The confusion was probably mine. For me, there is the physical, and there is the physical. The metaphysical is entertaining to think about, but that's about it.