Dennett's claim is that his own brain (Yorick) is controlling his body remotely through radio signals, and that a computerized version of his brain (Hubert) is also capable of controlling his body. Dennett has a device with a switch, and flipping this switch will change whether Hubert or Yorick will be the mind controlling his body. At first, Dennett was unable to even detect which mind was controlling his body, as Hubert was created as an exact mind replica of Yorick. Even though Hubert and Yorick were initially qualitatively similar, differing experiences lead to them diverging, meaning they became distinct …show more content…
This is much easier to do, since Yorick can be shown to be a person whether you are a believer of dualism or materialism. Yorick is the same brain that Dennett always had, it was just surgically removed from his body and given the capability to operate Dennett’s body through wires and radio signals. Yorick has thoughts, desires, beliefs, and gives Dennett the ability to have conversations, which means that Yorick displays first, second, and third-order intentionality, all of which are required for personhood. We don’t have to prove if Yorick is a mind, because that is known, and we don’t have to reply on dualism views, because Yorick is a physical object (a brain) so the materialist viewpoint would also accept Yorick as a