Friday, October 31, 2014

[PHI 1000] The Switch

In this episode of Tales from the Crypt, Carlton undergoes a gradual transformation at the end of which his old body is replaced with the body of a young man.




At the end of the switch, is Carlton still Carlton?




And who is Carlton: the one with the old body or the one with the young body?

9 comments:

  1. At the end of the switch, Carlton is still himself. Although he looks completely different physically, he still has the same thoughts and memories as Carlton always had. Looks alone don’t define a person although it can contribute to how a person thinks. The exterior can never make a person different, rather, its whats on the inside that counts. For humans, this means the brain as that is the source of all our ideas and thoughts. Even if Carlton had organ transplants, he would still be the same person. However, If he switched brains with Hans, then I believe the two people would switch. At the end of the day Carlton is the person with the young body.

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  2. I think that Carlton remains Carlton throughout the entire episode through the transformations from old to young then to his "perfect body". It took changes in physical appearance but nothing that changed who he was. His social change from a millionaire to a poor young man is what was different in the end. Carlton with the young body then would have to be carlton because he is the last remaining image of carlton and we saw him progress to that state of youth

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  3. Carlton remains to be the Carlton in the young body toward the end because his physical appearance has minuscule to do with his identity. Although he has completely changed his appearance, what makes Carlton Carlton is his mind. Since his mind, thoughts, and soul remains within himself the entire time, we can assume that he still remains to be the same Carlton. And therefore, the Carlton in the young body.

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  4. I think Carlton is still Carlton and is in the body of the young man. The brain isn't like any other organ because it contains personalities and memories. Personalities and memories are exclusive to a person. You will never have two people that think and act the same exact way or had the same experience that shaped their character; whereas physical appearance can be changed and can be duplicated. So even though Carlton looks differently, he still thinks and acts like Carlton would because of his brain. And we can actually follow the changes that happened to his body so that we know that he gradually changed his appearance.

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  5. I think that Carlton is still himself because he is still the same being, even though his body has changed. After being told he wasn't good enough for the girl of his dreams because he was old, he tried being somebody he was not by exchanging bodies with a better, younger looking man. At the end, Carlton remains the same person in a younger body while the person in Carlton's old body gets the girl of Carlton's dreams. Even while his wealth and physical appearance changed, Carlton still had the same personality, goals and aspirations as before, proving that he's still the same person.

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  6. In my opinion, Carlton is still Carlton at the end of the switch. Like we've talked about in class, a physical change is not the same as a mental/"mind" change. Someone who undergoes a sex-change procedure completely their outward appearance, but their soul is unaltered. Carlton just changed his physical appearance. His personality, his actions, his mannerisms, and therefore his soul are still the same.

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  7. I think Carlton is still Carlton. If we identify a person simple by their personality then nothing about Carlton's personality has changed. He still has the same experiences and ambitions and desires. He'll act the same way and think the same way. His physical appearance doesn't change who he is because people constantly change their physical appearance through time but they are still essentially identified as the same person.

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  8. Carlton is still Carlton at the end of the switch. To have become someone else, he would have had to undergone a complete and immediate transformation. His transformation was both gradual and incomplete. Gradual, because he changed his outward appearance in sections-face, torso, lower body. Incomplete, because his mind remained unchanged, so he still had the same experiences, thoughts, personality, etc.

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  9. At the end of the switch, Carlton is still Carlton because all though his physical appearance may have changed, his brain did not. He isn’t even younger, he may look younger on the outside but he is still the same Carlton. His internal organs are still the same (including his brain). Therefore, his outer appearance may have changed gradually but mentally he is still the same person. It is the brain that retains memories and thoughts, and therefore it is the most important organ. He is still the same Carlton from the beginning of the video that was struggling to obtain somebody he could never have.

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