The Ship of Theseus for the AI Age: If Neurons Were Replaced One by One, Would a Machine Have an Identity?
No_Drag8242 · reddit · 2026-11-02
A Reddit philosophy post applies the Ship of Theseus to machine consciousness: replace your neurons one by one with functionally identical nanotech cells and you'd likely still feel like yourself—identity unchanged. But swap the whole brain at once and the original 'you' may cease to exist, while the new brain would be someone.
The author argues that if gradual replacement preserves identity, there's no principled reason a machine couldn't become someone with an identity.
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