After reading "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzwiel, I've struggled with the idea of a soul. In the book he goes into great detail about how our race will integrate ourselves so fully with technology that it will be impossible to distinguish the two.
The way that he describes that this will occur leads me to wonder what the soul is. Just a quick synopsis, but if you are interested, read the book, I highly recommend it.
Basically the one that causes me the most trouble (especially as what I consider an "early-adopter" of new technology) is the memory implant. Our brain is what distinguishes us from the rest of the creatures on the planet. Our self-awareness gives us what we need to create our entire society. Now if my knowledge is transferred entirely into memory chips, and my phsysical body dies, do I still exist? Will I experience this death, or will I continue to live, at least in my own mind, is it still my mind? He barely touches these topics but I'm torn on it.
Don't get too torn up about it, because no one is ready to transfer your memories into a chip, so you are extremely unlikely to ever experience the answer to this question. You are far more likely to die the old fashioned way.
My question would be: Would I still have the hots for Petra Verkaik?
"Now if my knowledge is transferred entirely into memory chips, and my phsysical body dies, do I still exist? Will I experience this death, or will I continue to live, at least in my own mind, is it still my mind?"
No, yes, no and no, respectively. Is Ella Fitzgerald still "alive" in some fashion, because we can still hear her voice when we want? No. This brings to mind reports of aboriginals fearing to have their pictures taken, because it would steal their soul.
"Now if my knowledge is transferred entirely into memory chips, and my phsysical body dies, do I still exist?"
You're dead, man. Therefore, no more - you're dead.
One thing I have always wondered about such scenarios.
It is not enough to transfer knowledge. You have to transfer entire experiences. For instance, suppose you could learn kung fu the way Neo did. Sure, you would learn the moves. But would you learn when to execute them ? Would your fighting technique look like Jackie Chan, i.e. a lot of wasted energy to throw a few punches ? Would you learn how to assess an opponents strengths and weaknesses and determine a strategy based upon that ?