Not if everything is reset back to the way it was!
He doesn’t say that though. Perhaps he meant to imply that. Let’s suppose he did, what does the experiencing vs remembering self model say about that?
You would start building memories. As you build them you’re servicing the experiencing self, and over the course of the vacation your remembering self can recall the things you did earlier in the vacation. Finally the vacation ends and time resets to before the vacation and it’s all gone, memories, sunburn. All of your new Facebook friends are strangers again.
If this is the problem he meant to specify then I’m still confused. Isn’t this vacation model a microcosm of life? One day it ends, and everything is gone. Do you still bother living it? Is talking about a vacation that resets just less likely to trigger existential angst in the audience than asking people to think about why they bother living?
A different but related question that (I feel) makes the dilemma clearer:
Is there any cause that you would be willing to be tortured for if you were assured that your memories of the torture (and all subconscious aftereffects) would be subsequently erased, but would be unwilling to be tortured for if there were no such assurance?
He doesn’t say that though. Perhaps he meant to imply that. Let’s suppose he did, what does the experiencing vs remembering self model say about that?
You would start building memories. As you build them you’re servicing the experiencing self, and over the course of the vacation your remembering self can recall the things you did earlier in the vacation. Finally the vacation ends and time resets to before the vacation and it’s all gone, memories, sunburn. All of your new Facebook friends are strangers again.
If this is the problem he meant to specify then I’m still confused. Isn’t this vacation model a microcosm of life? One day it ends, and everything is gone. Do you still bother living it? Is talking about a vacation that resets just less likely to trigger existential angst in the audience than asking people to think about why they bother living?
A different but related question that (I feel) makes the dilemma clearer:
Is there any cause that you would be willing to be tortured for if you were assured that your memories of the torture (and all subconscious aftereffects) would be subsequently erased, but would be unwilling to be tortured for if there were no such assurance?