“The Ship of Theseus: Time, Identity and Memory” is published by Marc Barham in Counter Arts.

“Which you is ‘who’? The person you are today? Five years ago? Who you’ll be in fifty years? And when is ‘am’? This week? Today? This hour? This second? And whic…

“The Ship of Theseus” is used to describe this philosophical paradox. Theseus is remembered in Greek mythology as the slayer of the Minotaur. For years, the Athenians had been sending sacrifices to be given to the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull beast who inhabited the labyrinth of Knossos. One year, Theseus braved the labyrinth, and killed the Minotaur. The ship in which he returned was long preserved. As parts of the ship needed repair, it was rebuilt plank by plank. Suppose that, eventually, every plank was replaced; would it still have been the same ship? A strong case can be made for saying that it would have been: When the first plank was replaced, the ship would still have been Theseus’ ship. When the second was replaced, the ship would still have been Theseus’ ship. Changing a single plank can never turn one ship into another. Even when every plank had been replaced, then, and no part of the original ship remained, it would still have been Theseus’ ship. Suppose, though, that each of the planks removed from Theseus’ ship was restored, and that these planks were then recombined to once again form a ship. Would this have been Theseus’ ship? Again, a strong case can be made for saying that it would have been: this ship would have had precisely the same parts as Theseus’ ship, arranged in precisely the same way. If this happened, then, then it would seem that Theseus had returned from Knossos in two ships. First, there would have been Theseus’ ship that has had each of its parts replaced one by one. Second, there would have been Theseus’ ship that had been dismantled, restored, and then reassembled. Each of them would have been Theseus’ ship. The philosophers queried whether or not it was truly the ship of Theseus, since it had been replaced in its entirety. Plutarch wrote in his History of Theseus: “The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.”

SPOILER: V.M. Staka didn’t actually write this book. However, once out of the packaging, it’s impossible to discern the true authors. Abrams and Dorst executed an amazing novel that mus…

As a project evolves, does the new code just add on top of the old code? Or does it replace the old code slowly over time? In order to understand this, I built a little thing to analyze Git projects, with help from the formidable GitPython project.

In the alternative ending of Chapter 10 for Ship of Theseus, when the point of view shifts to the monkey, S is referred to as the transparent man. Rather than spoil the mystery with my own musings,…

A comprehensive and recommended guide to reading "S" aka "Ship of Theseus" by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst.

Challenge yourself and pick up one of these unusually formatted books for your next read. Because the reading life means sometimes leaving your comfort zone.

The ship of Theseus paradox is a paradox which question identity of an object. If an object, say a ship, is gradually remade with new wood, is the ship now a new ship?

It’s one of the oldest concepts in Western Philosophy. Heraclitus wrote about it. So did Plato... But perhaps the most eloquent explanation of this timeless thought experiment was accomplished by the historian, biographer and essayist, Plutarch. He did so with the help of the Greek hero Thes

If every piece of a ship is replaced over time until none of the original components remain, is it still the same ship? The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment rooted in the story of Theseus, the founder-king of Athens who took a certain ship on a pilgrimage each year to honor the god

Below is the full text (transcribed by hand – please comment to help me correct the inevitable mistakes) of a clue that author Doug Dorst tweeted earlier this morning. It is a fictitious revi…

S. is not what you think it is. From the moment you slit open the slipcase—the same slipcase that bears the only explicit admission of J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst’s involvement—and slit it you will, in an act of introductory destruction that implicates us in the worst impulses of the characters we’ll meet in […]

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No sooner had Theseus settled into his princely position, than King Minos of Crete, calls upon Athens for its bloody yearly debt. King Minos son had previously died in the Athenian games, and as an act of revenge, he threatened to invade Athens unless the kingdom sent seven male and seven female youths to Crete to sacrifice for his half-man, half-bull creature within his labyrinth; the Minotaur. Theseus volunteers as one of the youths, determined to stop the beast. King Aegeus tells Theseus if he survives, to switch the ship’s black sail to white upon his return, so his father will know he lives. Arriving in Crete, King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, falls for Theseus, and vows to help him if he will marry and bring her to Athens after defeating the beast. Theseus agrees, and Ariadne consults Daedalus, the ingenious inventor of the maze, as to its secrets. She gives Theseus the secrets, and most importantly, a ball of thread, so that he may retrace his steps. That night, Ariadne sneaks Theseus to the entrance, and he enters the dank, dark tunnels, determined to stop the Minotaur. Ariadne is one example of smitten women assisting male Greek heroes on their quests with invaluable clues and tools. The Argonauts, arriving at Colchis to acquire the Golden fleece, were assisted by the princess Medea, who uses magic and ingenuity to help Jason succeed in his labors. She provides an ointment to protect his body against the fire breathing oxen, gives a strategy about confusing the warriors who spring up from the dragon’s teeth, and finally, uses magical herbs to put the dragon to sleep which guards the golden fleece. There are many interpretations for the symbolism of Labyrinths in myths. On the surface they show a character on a journey to discover their purpose or destiny through finding the correct path to reach their goal. They’re also symbolic of the stage of the hero’s journey Jospeh Campbell calls the “belly of the whale,” where the hero commits to their metamorphosis, and thus re-emerges from the ordeal, reborn anew. The Labyrinth center could represent a unification with the hero’s inner self, a higher power, or the ultimate challenge, and the tunnel could literally represent a birth canal. Your space should reflect who you are and what you care about. Adding a pop of color to your walls is an easy way to inject some personality into any room and put a smile on your face. • Paper thickness: 10.3 mil • Paper weight: 5.57 oz/y² (189 g/m²) • Giclée printing quality • Opacity: 94% • ISO brightness: 104%

Ship Of Theseus: A Novel is the tale of a grieving writer who self-isolates and has a terrifying existential crisis in the haunted apartme...