red75prime t1_iwtwfoz wrote on November 18, 2022 at 8:58 AM

Reply to comment by mafian911 in When does an individual's death occur if the biological brain is gradually replaced by synthetic neurons? by NefariousNaz

So is it an illusion or a collection of memories? Collection of memories has non-illusory continuity after all (barring confabulations and the like).

Nastypilot t1_iwugwfs wrote on November 18, 2022 at 1:13 PM

The brain is known to lie to us. It's actually a fairly usual things for the brain to make-up or distort things in an effort to maintain consistency of thoughts, beliefs, and actions. You can easily observe an example by pointing out a person doing something they consider as against their stated beliefs, the brain in such case will make up anything to appear as if there never was any inconsistency. If a brain makes up false memories, a person will still act according to these memories as if they were real.

red75prime t1_iwuk88o wrote on November 18, 2022 at 1:42 PM

Given replication crisis in psychology, I wouldn't be so sure about ubiquitousness of those lies.

The brain surely uses shortcuts that can be exploited in laboratory settings or by scammers (leaving aside malfunctions), but it is a bit different than lies.