Would You Still Be You If You (The Sperm) Hadn't Won The Race?

Hi Aidan!

Thank you again!

I agree. Why would there be any reason to doubt that the sperm isn't still within us, if, indeed, not us? Am I, you, whoever - The metamorphosised result of said sentience? Why not?.......

That's a fantastic title for an autobiography....... "I Sperm"

Brilliant!!!

See you later, Aidan.
Mark...

Good question Mark. (ha ha i like how that sounds) Anyways, I don't think we have to go back that far, but technically yeah, no two DNA are ever the same.

But there are SO many variations within human development and experience that you don't really ever get an identical being, not even within identical twins. There is very small and subtle things that vary even in their behavior or identity.

Hi Krumple!

Ha ha, it is a change, I agree! I also agree with the DNA related answer. I am utterly convinced that NO two things can be identical.

mark...

so your using DNA as an agrgument against , identicalism ?

then you are dis-allusioned

There is virtually no part of me that has not influenced who and what I am; from the lowliest experience to the most integral part of my brain. Taken together, in that totality that's arrived from the sum of all that comprise us, a trillion factors go into who and what we are at any given point in time. Bearing this in mind, and knowing that a particular sperm cell won *this* race, one might think: Of course not! I'd be different!

But it's not that simple. First off, sperm only carry half the genetic code (23 chromosomes), the other half coming from the female's contribution. If all that a sperm does in influencing what eventually comes is to deliver its genetic material - and assuming that each sperm cell delivers precisely the exact same chromosome package - then I'd say: Of course I'd be the same.

Whether or not a different sperm cell from the same donor could change the outcome at all would be dependent on what factors it brings to bear, aside from that genetic delivery.

I'm sure there are medical folks out there who could answer this - so much more a question whose answer lies in biology, anatomy and medicine than philosophy.

Hi North!

disillusioned: Free from illusion. I hope so! Thank you for the compliment, but I knew this already.

And I'm not using DNA as an argument against "identicalism", because I have absolutely no idea what "identicalism" is.

I do have an small investment in ichneumonism, if that helps?

Anyway - have a great day, North.
Mark...

Love the question and sorry to be coming into the conversation so late.
I believe that if another sperm had fertilized the egg first that that event would have created your brother or sister and you would not exist. The Human egg is the size of this dot . And the sperm is microscopic. There are between 100 and 500 million sperm that make the swim. If a sperm where the size of a grain of rice that would be bewtween 2 and 7 ten yard dump truck loads of rice. But the scripture says that God new you before time began. He predestined you to be made in his image. Think about that and you will understand who God is...and you might even come to the conclusion about who he sent to save you. The sperm conversation is a good question. But not the BIG QUESTION.

That's why a friend of mine calls himself "Speedy".

I knew a man named Gonzolas, an ironworker, and a pretty good connector, and though I had worked around the guy some I never knew his name until I ran into him at a party... First I asked his name, then I introduced my wife, and then I asked: Why are you called Speedy... My wife said: Du??? I never was to great with verbal comprehension... He went in the hole later, and injured his bean, and now he couldn't tell you his name fast... Some times life is a **** sandwich with too little bread...

Same egg, different sperm?

Like sometime sun and dlowan said way back when, I might have been be a different me. My gender even might have been different.

I agree with most people in the thread on questions 1 and 2.
However, as far as I know, a sperm is in no way sentient, or even conscious of its surroundings; it doesn't even have any sensory organelles.

Which one of "You" is asking the question?