ok, so this subject happened whilst i was writing my MyO blog this morning. this is kind of a taster of what "100 Subjects" is going to be about.
* * *
So, I got Luna (my 100cc Scooter) back from the shop yesterday. She's all tuned up and fixed up and working again. yay! now i just gotta await her tax disc to arrive and the roads once more belong to me!! ha ha.
It's funny, cuz she needed new shock absorbers for the rear wheel, and now she's got them, they're the shiniest part on her! ha ha! it got me thinking though, how much of a machine can you replace until its still the same machine you started off with...
for example, to date i have had to replace Luna's rear tyre, front panel, rear shocks, her spark plugs, her air filter and her head-light bulb. not a lot, i know. she's still the same bike, she has the same engine and same chassis. but if i held onto her for a long time, and had to replace more parts, when would be the point where she wouldn't be Luna anymore? When i replaced her engine? When i replaced her chassis? (although replacing her entire chassis would be an extreme move.. ^^;;; )
i mean, when you get a Heart Transplant, which is arguably the body's powerplant, you're still you. just with a different heart. ok ok, so nobody has ever undergone a brain transplant, and there is no equivalent "brain" part in a motor scooter and this is all really just a flight of fancy, but think of this...
Every cell in the Human Body is constantly dying and being replaced. it's just a fact of life. i can't remember the exact time frame, but it happens repeatedly over the natural life span... your entire body gets replaced. The person you are now has no remaining cells from the person you were, say, seven years ago. But you're still you. Because the process happens over time, gradually and not instantaneously, you retain your memories, your skills, your personality. what makes up you remains, the software if you will, even though the hardware has been totally replaced.
of course this all boils down to the debate about the existance of the Immortal Soul, the indefinable element, the "I" in Human BeIng. Whether it exits physically in the body (and if so where, and where does it go after we die?) or whether it exists elsewhere, unknown and unseen but still real.
i know, in the "real world" i cant compare scooters to humans. i cant compare anything mechanical to the glory and splendour that it homo sapiens. that postulating about the existance of the Ghost in the Machine, particularly in one that is purely analogue with no trace of digital awareness, is pure fallacy.
but i like to wonder. Where is Luna's soul? and sometimes...just sometimes...is it more real than my own?
* * *
yes? no? whatever? please comment on your thoughts. and dont forget suggestions for future topics!
