Saturday, 24 April 2021

Robot head Paradox

Some time ago I watched an episode of my favourite generation of star trek, 'Next geration' with Captain John Luke Picard. In that episode the starship enterprise accidentally flew through a worm hole and travelled back to 1800s Earth. They beamed down to earth and the Robot crew member called 'commander Data' had his head dislodged inside an abandoned mine shaft. They beamed the Robot back to the ship returned back to the present time. They went down the abandoned mine shaft and found his head was still there so they brought it back and reattached it and it worked just fine. 

If Commander Data was 50 years old and his head was sitting in a mine shaft for 500 years then how old is he? You could say he is 50 years old but then his head was sitting in a mine shaft for 500 years. But then if you say he is 500 years old, that would also be wrong because the man that created him wasn't born 500 years ago. He emerged 50 years ago. These sci-fi shows really make you think. 

The same is true if I have an organ transplant. If I am shot in the heart and my heart was replaced by a heart from a person that was born 10 years before me then how old am I? My heart is 48 years old and I am 38. 

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