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Personal Identity

Brains in Vats

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. There are three variants that I want to consider:-
     1. The traditional disembodied brain in a vat of nutrients, connected to the world by input sensory and output motor devices.
     2. The Matrix-case, where the “vat” is a living human body, but where we have the same exchange of sensory and motor messages with a computer. I have a real body², but not the one I think I have.
     3. The simulation case (which depends on Functionalism³ for any plausibility whatever), whereby I am living in a computer simulation. I am a computer program.
  2. I’m not sure how well-motivated these supposed possibilities are for an explanation of what we are⁴. Within the context of my research project, I’ve no interest in the sceptical use of these TEs⁵, but there may be other uses.
  3. "Bostrom (Nick) - Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?" (2003) argues that it is highly probable that we are computer simulations (Case ‘c’ above). See also the altercation below:-
     → "Weatherson (Brian) - Are You a Sim?" (2003), and
     → "Bostrom (Nick) - The Simulation Argument: Reply to Weatherson" (2005).
  4. While the claim that we are computer programs is often made by futurologists, it doesn’t make sense to me.
     1. Computer programs are universals. I am a particular.
     2. What I am⁶ – in the sense intended here – is a particular implementation of a computer program “running” on a particular piece of hardware.
     3. So, I would be a particular partition of a particular piece of hardware, configured in an appropriate way.
        
  5. "Chalmers (David) - The Matrix as Metaphysics" (2005) seems to take the possibility of our being brains in vats (in the traditional Case ‘a’ sense) more seriously than might have been expected. However, I think his interest is purely in rebutting the sceptical conclusions of traditional epistemology. He thinks that if we were BIVs, we’d still know what we claim to know, because our words would have meanings appropriate to our envatted status.
     → See "Lloyd (Peter) - A Review of David Chalmers' essay 'The Matrix as Metaphysics'", 2008, for an attempted refutation.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Bostrom (Nick) - Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
  2. "Bostrom (Nick) - The Simulation Argument: Reply to Weatherson", 2005, Internal PDF Link
  3. "Chalmers (David) - The Matrix as Metaphysics", 2005, Internal PDF Link, Read
  4. "Lloyd (Peter) - A Review of David Chalmers' essay 'The Matrix as Metaphysics'", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link
  5. "Weatherson (Brian) - Are You a Sim?", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link
• For a Page of Links⁷ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read⁸, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Bauby (Jean-Dominique) - The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly", 1998, Book
    2. "Bostrom (Nick) - Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Bostrom (Nick) - How Long Before Superintelligence?", 1998, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Chalmers (David) - The Matrix as Metaphysics", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Dennett (Daniel) - Where Am I?", 1997, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Brains", 2007, Write-Up Note⁹, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Searle (John) - Minds, Brains, and Programs: Author's Response to Peer Review", 1980, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Barrow (John) - Living in a Simulated Universe", 2007, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Bostrom (Nick) - The Simulation Argument: Reply to Weatherson", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Brueckner (Anthony) - Brains in a Vat", 1986, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Brueckner (Anthony) - If I Am a Brain in a Vat, Then I Am Not a Brain in a Vat", 1992, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Brueckner (Anthony) - The Simulation Argument Again", 2008, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Collier (John) - Could I conceive being a brain in a vat?", 1990, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Grau (Christopher) - Philosophers Explore 'The Matrix'", 2005, Book, Read = 8%
    8. "Haggqvist (Soren) - Application", 1996
    9. "Haggqvist (Soren) - The Central Cases", 1996
    10. "Haggqvist (Soren) - Thought Experiments and Arguments", 1996
    11. "Lloyd (Peter) - A Review of David Chalmers' essay 'The Matrix as Metaphysics'", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    12. "Madden (Rory) - Could a Brain in a Vat Self-Refer?", 2010, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    13. "Mcintyre (Jane) - Putnam's Brains", 1984, Internal PDF Link
    14. "Moravec (Hans) - Pigs in Cyberspace", 2013
    15. "Murray (David) - Disembodied Brains", 1970
    16. "Noe (Alva) - Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness", 2009, Book, Read = 8%, Footnote₁₀
    17. "Pautz (Adam) - Brains in Vats, Inverts, and Swampmen: The Real Trouble with Armchair Arguments Against Phenomenal Externalism", 2012, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 10%
    18. "Veber (Michael) - What’s It Like to Be a BIV? A Dialogue", 2015, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    19. "Weatherson (Brian) - Are You a Sim?", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder¹¹.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 10:

• See the conclusion of Chapter 8.

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Table of the Previous 11 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3912	Brains in Vats
11/04/2022 00:01:26	3510	Brains in Vats
11/02/2021 11:29:46	3317	Brains in Vats
27/05/2020	2725	Brains in Vats
24/04/2018 00:12:58	3983	Brains in Vats
10/04/2017 23:38:24	2802	Brains in Vats
18/12/2010 19:58:05	1057	Brains in Vats
18/08/2009 20:39:50	1047	Brains in Vats
30/07/2009 18:23:02	1064	Brains in Vats
26/11/2007 23:25:26	650	Brains in Vats
12/08/2007 10:17:46	641	Brains in Vats

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Brains in Vats	Brain

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Body	Functionalism	Note Links Explanation	Olson - What Are We? Brains
Plug Note Apologia	Thought Experiments	What are We?	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Abbreviations	Baker - Persons in the Material World	Body	Brain, 2	Brain Transplants
Disembodied Existence	Fission	Human Beings	Olson - What Are We? The Question	Organisms
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Teletransportation, 2	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2, 3, 4
Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper		Yes
Bauby (Jean-Dominique)	The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly	Book		Yes
Chalmers (David)	The Matrix as Metaphysics	Paper	2	Yes
Collier (John)	Could I conceive being a brain in a vat?	Paper	2
Dainton (Barry)	Self: Philosophy In Transit: Prologue	Paper		Yes
Dancy (Jonathan)	Scepticism	Paper		Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	Where Am I?	Paper		Yes
Frankish (Keith)	The mind isn’t locked in the brain but extends far beyond it	Paper		Yes
Haggqvist (Soren)	Application	Paper
Haggqvist (Soren)	The Central Cases	Paper
Haggqvist (Soren)	Thought Experiments and Arguments	Paper
Madden (Rory)	Could a Brain in a Vat Self-Refer?	Paper	2
Monti (Alessandro)	A stable sense of self is rooted in the lungs, heart and gut	Paper		Yes
Moravec (Hans)	Pigs in Cyberspace	Paper
Noe (Alva)	Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	Paper
Olson (Eric)	Animalism and the Remnant-Person Problem	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach	Paper	2	Yes
Pautz (Adam)	Brains in Vats, Inverts, and Swampmen: The Real Trouble with Armchair Arguments Against Phenomenal Externalism	Paper
Pritchard (Duncan)	What do you know? What is Knowledge? And Do We Have Any?	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Abbreviations	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Body	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Brain	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Brain Transplants	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Disembodied Existence	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Fission	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Organisms	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Teletransportation	Paper	2	Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	Dualism and Materialism: Athens and Jerusalem?	Paper	2	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Barrow (John)	Living in a Simulated Universe	Paper - Cited	Website	No
Bauby (Jean-Dominique)	The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly	Book - Cited	Bauby (Jean-Dominique) - The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly	Yes
Bostrom (Nick)	Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?	Paper - By Subtopic	Birkbeck Philosophy Society, 11th February 2003	No
Bostrom (Nick)	Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Quarterly, 2003, Vol. 53, No. 211, pp. 243-255	Yes
Bostrom (Nick)	How Long Before Superintelligence?	Paper - Cited	Personal Website.	Yes
Bostrom (Nick)	The Simulation Argument: Reply to Weatherson	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Quarterly, 2005, Vol. 55, No. 218, pp. 90-97	No
Brueckner (Anthony)	Brains in a Vat	Paper - By Subtopic	The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Mar., 1986) (pp. 148-167)	No
Brueckner (Anthony)	If I Am a Brain in a Vat, Then I Am Not a Brain in a Vat	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, New Series, Vol. 101, No. 401 (Jan., 1992), pp. 123-128	No
Brueckner (Anthony)	The Simulation Argument Again	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Jul., 2008) (pp. 224-226)	No
Chalmers (David)	The Matrix as Metaphysics	Paper - Cited	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	Yes
Clark (Andy)	The Twisted Matrix: Dream, Simulation, or Hybrid?	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Dreyfus (Hubert L.) & Dreyfus (S.D.)	Existential Phenomenology and the Brave New World	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Driver (Julia)	Artificial Ethics	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Fredkin (Edward)	A New Cosmogony	Paper - By Subtopic	Website	No
Fredkin (Edward)	A Physicist's Model of Computation	Paper - By Subtopic	Website	No
Fredkin (Edward)	Digital Mechanics (Book)	Paper - By Subtopic	Website	No
Fredkin (Edward)	Finite Nature	Paper - By Subtopic	Website	No
Grau (Christopher)	Bad Dreams, Evil Demons, and the Experience Machine: Philosophy and The Matrix	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Grau (Christopher)	Philosophers Explore 'The Matrix'	Book - Cited	Grau (Christopher) - Philosophers Explore 'The Matrix'	8%
Grau (Christopher)	Philosophers Explore 'The Matrix': Introduction	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Hanley (Richard)	Never the Twain Shall Meet: Reflections on the Very First Matrix	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Lloyd (Peter)	A Review of David Chalmers' essay 'The Matrix as Metaphysics'	Paper - Cited	Discusiones Filosóficas 9 (12):175 - 192 (2008)	No
Madden (Rory)	Could a Brain in a Vat Self-Refer?	Paper - By Subtopic	European Journal of Philosophy, 2010	6%
Mawson (Tim J.)	Morpheus and Berkeley on Reality	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
McGinn (Colin)	The Matrix of Dreams	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
McKenna (Michael)	Neo's Freedom … Whoa!	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Murray (David)	Disembodied Brains	Paper - By Subtopic	Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 1969-70, 121-140	No
Partridge (John)	Plato's Cave and The Matrix	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Pautz (Adam)	Brains in Vats, Inverts, and Swampmen: The Real Trouble with Armchair Arguments Against Phenomenal Externalism	Paper - By Subtopic	New Waves in Philosophy of Mind, Online Conference, 3rd-17th December 2012	10%
Pryor (James)	What's So Bad about Living in the Matrix	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Sprevak (Mark), Etc	New Waves in Philosophy of Mind	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Sprevak (Mark), Etc - New Waves in Philosophy of Mind	15%
Todman (Theo)	Birkbeck Philosophy Society - 2002/2003 Programme	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Todman (Theo) - Birkbeck Philosophy Society - 2002/2003 Programme	2%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Brains in Vats	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Veber (Michael)	What’s It Like to Be a BIV? A Dialogue	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2015) pp. 734-756	5%
Wagner (Rachel) & Flannery-Dailey (Frances)	Wake Up! Worlds of Illusion in Gnosticism, Buddhism, and The Matrix Project	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Warwick (Kevin)	The Matrix - Our Future?	Paper - By Subtopic	Grau - Philosophers Explore "The Matrix", 2005	No
Weatherson (Brian)	Are You a Sim?	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Quarterly, 2003, Vol. 53: 425-31	No

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025

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