[PHILOSOPHY] Personal Identity and that Spider-Man meme 🕷️

What makes me, me? This is the key question of personal identity in philosophy, and many philosophers have weighed in trying to answer this question. One of the common responses goes as follows: ‘I am me because I have always had the same body!’ It’s a fair enough response, given that this is how we’ve always identified other people too. Now, let me give you this thought experiment:

💡 Things to consider

• The concept of ‘same’: What does it mean for something to be the same, and how does this impact personal identity? Things can be the ‘same’ (i.e. identical) in different ways. If two things are qualitatively identical, they share all the same qualities, properties, features, etc. If two things are numerically identical, they not only have the same qualities, properties, features, etc. but are also one and the same. For example, my neighbour Joe and I might drive the same car (let’s say a Ford Fiesta) so our cars are qualitatively the same. However, we don’t share a car (i.e. we each have our own Ford Fiesta), so they are not numerically identical.

• Body or mind?: Does the body even matter when it comes to personal identity? Although that’s how we generally identify people, some argue that it is the mind that matters more. For example, John Locke believed that what makes you the same person over time isn't just your body or how you look on the outside. Instead, it's the connection between your thoughts, memories, and experiences. Even if you swapped your body with your best friend, many people would argue you still stay the same person as long as you still have the same consciousness. So, do you think that the body really matters?

• Splitting: Let’s say that the teletransporter gets a wee bit messed up and, instead of vaporising your old body, it actually keeps both the old body and the new body. Which one is actually you? Can it be both, or is it neither? What if, as time goes on, they start to have different experiences and make different choices leading them to becoming more and more distinct individuals?

🔎 Find out more

• Personal Identity - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• Personal Identity: Crash Course Philosophy #19

[BIOLOGY] Extinction Debt ⚠️

Warnings of a “sixth mass extinction event” are currently all over the headlines, with many scientists informing us that we stand to lose a large proportion of Earth’s remaining biodiversity if decisive action isn’t taken. As it stands, many incredibly biodiverse areas are currently threatened by factors such as climate change or deforestation, with many species in decline as a result. One interesting problem facing conservationists is the idea of extinction debt, which Antonelli (2022) defines as “the number of species in a region that are bound to go extinct as a result of past events”. This can be predicted using a variety of factors such as species-area relationships, intraspecific genetic diversity and requirements of a species e.g. for food and/or mates. This is of grave concern to many conservationists; it is unknown how many species we may yet lose as a result of past actions. Understanding this concept can help conservationists employ the best conservation practices to protect as many species as possible.

💡 Things to consider

• Genetic Diversity: How might genetic diversity within a species impact how likely a species is to go extinct? Think about why genetic diversity is important for a species and what challenges may be faced by having low genetic diversity in a population.

• Species-area relationships: How can species-area relationships help inform biodiversity in a region? It is now known that when you increase the area studied by 10x, the average number of species roughly doubles. Think about how a conservationist may use this knowledge and how you might go about conserving habitats to conserve the biggest number of species.

• Why is biodiversity important?: This is an incredibly broad question, but it is worth thinking about why biodiversity is so important and why there is such a fuss over it. Try and come up with at least 3 reasons why we should protect biodiversity and what other factors could affect biodiversity, other than those outlined above.

🔎 Find out more

• Antonelli. A., 2022, “The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity”, Witness Books, London.

• What is the extinction debt? (YouTube)

[MEDICINE] Pathology: Patchwork people – an introduction to transplantation and the problem of rejection ❌

Transplantation is the artificial introduction of biological material to an organism and can be super useful when a patient’s tissue/organ has failed beyond pharmaceutical intervention or surgical repair. However, without effectively preparing both the recipient’s body and the transplanted material, the transplant can be rejected, eliciting a potentially extremely dangerous immune response. One of the ways to avoid this is by immunosuppression to reduce the extent of any immune response. However, it follows that they are highly susceptible to other infections during this period. There are several other methods to avoid rejection, such as by analysing genetics (DNA typing) to check how similar a recipient is to the donor: greater similarity often reduces rejection, but the opportunity to refine this in the future is huge…

💡 Things to consider

• Could antigen removal reduce rejection?: Antigens are tiny protein markers that are recognised by our immune cells to distinguish between our own body cells and foreign material. It is these antigens presented on MHC molecules (surface glycoproteins that help present pathogens to immune T cells) of host cells that trigger the cascade that leads to an immune response in rejection. It would therefore make sense that if we removed these from the transplanted material, our body could not reject it. Unfortunately, however, viruses beat us to it, by adapting to evade the process of antigen presentation on MHC molecules of infected host cells. Our body countered this by immune cells (namely NK cells) recognising when a cell has this MHC missing, which would indicate that it is infected with a virus and should be destroyed by the immune system. Therefore, a transplant stripped of MHC molecules and antigen would be seen as “missing-self” and potentially virus-infected and so rejection would prevail.

• Patchwork people: is there a limit to how much of a body could be made of transplants? Some transplants are more straightforward than others. For example, the influence of genetically matching liver tissue has no effect on allograft survival, compared to bone marrow, for which it is extremely important. Most organs in the abdomen and thorax can be transplanted, as well as the cornea, bones, heart valves, and stem cells. A single individual could receive all of these transplants, but the intensity of the surgery and associated immunosuppression could be detrimental. Overall, a brain transplant is unachievable at the moment mainly due to the inability of nerve tissue to heal properly: scarred nerves cannot transmit signals well. Besides, how effectively could the brain adapt to control its new body?

• Supply and demand: Until we can artificially grow human organs, there is likely to always be a waiting list for organ transplants, dependent upon human donors. Might we be able to use animal organs to meet this demand? Mechanically, animal organs may function very similarly to human counterparts, such as pig hearts. However, could this open the door for increased transmission of animal diseases? What ethical dilemmas might arise from using animal organs for human survival?

[EDUCATION] Is AI the future of education? 🤖

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained an increasing amount of attention and traction in the media in recent years, and it seems as though its growth is only at the beginning. The emergence of AI has undoubtedly already begun to impact the technological space, but what about its influence on other fields? According to UNESCO, AI is predicted to have a “significant impact” on the field of education in the years to come. But what exactly does this mean? Will AI chatbots influence how we write essays? Will we see the introduction of robots into classrooms? For this education scoop, we’re going to explore a few of the ways in which AI could potentially revolutionise teaching and learning in the future.

💡 Things to Consider

• What exactly is AI?: When you hear the term ‘AI’, your mind may instantly imagine sentient robots with a great wealth of knowledge and a mind of their own. There is, in fact, some truth to this statement! AI can be categorised as ‘strong’, which means that they have a self-aware consciousness and an intelligence level that is equal to humans, or it can be categorised as ‘weak’ meaning that it has only been programmed to carry out a specific task

• How might AI be used in educational settings?: The increasing popularity of AI systems such as ChatGPT has given rise to questions about what place AI has now in education, and what role it may play in the future. Educators and technology developers have opened themselves up to the possibility of chatbots playing a significant role in how students learn. Due to their 24/7 availability and their capacity to answer questions personalised to the user’s current knowledge, chatbots have been met with a positive reception by students and teachers alike and it is estimated that their use will only continue to grow as the field of education begins to focus more on creating personalised learning experiences.

• Does this mean teachers will be replaced by robots?: As is always the case whenever AI is being discussed, there remains the fear that artificial intelligence will slowly take over many jobs currently carried out by humans. But just how logical is that fear? Although the development of robots which can act as virtual teaching assistants or tutors has already been set in motion, government organisations such as UNESCO have assured that the role of teachers will not simply become extinct. However, it will certainly need to adapt and evolve in order to keep up with the transformation of classroom learning, and to result in a successful partnership between AI and education.

🔎 Find out more

• https://www.ibm.com/topics/strong-ai

• https://www.techopedia.com/chatbots-as-elementary-school-educators

• https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000366389

🗳️ Poll

Thank you for all your support and a special thank you to the person behind our UniScoops review of the week. You’re the 🐐! Feature on the next newsletter by voting on the poll above and leaving a comment.

👀 Keep your eyes peeled for…

• InsideUni - Videos and online events

• University of Cambridge - Personal statements (Applicant Webinar Series)

• University of Cambridge - Christ's Online Open Days (including live subject meetings)

• University of Oxford - MAT past test papers: 2013 & 2014 (Webinar)

• University of Buckingham - Law Taster Webinar

• UCAS DISCOVERY EDINBURGH 2023