One is never the same person twice.

Complex AlgorithmsMy opponent has, in a way, asked for documentation of the claim that creativity can be generated by an elaborate set of computer algorithms. Well, here's an example:It's widely accepted that creativity can't be copied by machines. Reinforcing these assumptions are hundreds of books and studies that have attempted to explain creativity as the product of mysterious processes within the right side of the human brain. Creativity, the thinking has been, proves just how different people are from CPUs. But now we're learning that for some creative work, that simply isn't true. Complex algorithms are moving into creative fields—even those as nebulous as music A&R—and proving that in some of these pursuits, humans can be displaced.-Christopher Steiner, How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World [6]This quote, is, of course, just a quote by an author, but the site, were you to visit it, contains an entire article on how computer applications are now becoming advanced enough that they are able to write and evaluate music, even to an extent better than humans can.Chemical ReactionsWhen I say that a chemical reaction may be arbitrary, I do not mean that a chemical may behave in a way that is not defined by a series of characteristics. However, if you were to mix sodium and chlorine in a vat of water, not only would you have a big explosion and substantial quantities of sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, which would then form sodium chloride and water, you would have chemical chaos. You might eventually wind up with crystals forming in that vat, but it won't be in an orderly manner, and, when I say arbitrary, I think we can agree that it appropriately connotates chaos.The Things Too Small to Feel and SeeMy opponent states "Then it comes to the idea of, can we tell which molecules collide with which? No we cannot, but the way the molecules collide does not have an impact, or at least much of an impact, on our thoughts."A. The way the molecules collide produces your thoughts.B. Studies show that thoughts change over time, as a result of the way those molecules collide.It may be tempting to take an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach to chemical reactions in the brain, but they are no less important because of their small size. You may not be able to see them, but they certainly are important--they define you. A single extra protein can completely change your entire mind, leaving you a different person (example: prions). You must not underestimate what chemicals do and can do; you're made of them.Yes! You have hit upon the point! Everything that is made of matter simply is a series of chemical reactions. I can type this right now because of the energy produced by chemical reactions in the battery of my laptop. I am physically able to type because chemical reactions in my brain produce both the will and coordination, and the electricity to order my body to type. I am physically able to read this because chemical reactions in my brain are interpreting information compiled from the image sent it by my eyes. I can understand this because of a complex series of chemical reactions in my frontal and temporal lobes.What is a Person?I may have the same basic identity that I did a few seconds, even a mere instant before, but technically, I am always changing, always different. With every breath, I am exhaling some of the carbon molecules of which I am made. With every movement, I am adding new oxygen molecules to my musculature. I may still be 'me,' but I am changed from who I was every instant prior to now. Being a slightly different person than I have been before, I am not the same person, since 'different' is pretty much the opposite of 'the same.'A person is never 'not any different as a whole'! One may look the same, one may act the same, but that person is always changing! The atoms that make up the person change, and thus, the person changes! The person is those atoms. When those atoms change, the person changes. A person is no more than atoms, passing on what is superficially the same identity for a lifetime. Stop the changes in those atoms and molecules, that person instantly dies. As in a desert or river, a person's components, atoms and molecules, like grains of sand or molecules of water, are always being eroded and replaced, retaining the same basic image, but never remaining the same."You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on..." -Heraclitus [7]Sources:[6] http://www.technologyreview.com...[7] http://en.wikiquote.org...