Be right back: what makes you you?

This episode is yet another installment of fiction trying to answer the question of what makes us who we are: our memories? our character traits/disposition? our feelings? our physical/bodily properties? our "soul" (for those who believe in such a thing)?

I like how she says that Ash.2 is just some "ripples" of the real Ash. Since he is mostly made of things that Ash shared online, there's also the obvious question of how much our online persona is similar to our real-life personality. I expect, however, that, in ordering the "next level up" in this service, she would also have provided all of Ash's personal data and the android seems capable of absorbing any new information about who Ash really was and incorporating it in his behaviour, so (assuming that the information he receives is correct) he is expected to learn how to be more and more like Ash as time goes by.

To me personally, this question is not just casual philosophical and/or sci-fi conversation. My grandma has had dementia for 9 years and by now she has lost everything (every memory of who she is, was, who she loves, who anyone else is, where she is...etc). Different members of my family experience this differently: my mum who is the most spiritual in the family still treats her as if she is the same person and believes that she's still in there and that she has some sort of emotional memory (i.e. not knowing anything in her mind, but still feeling the love for those close to her). My uncles, on the other hand, feel that they lost their mum years ago and this person is just someone they have to care for (as they would do for any other human being in need), but is not really their mum.

So, in my case, grandma is the opposite of Ash.2. She is the body and "soul" (for those who believe in this kind of stuff) but all the memories are completely erased, with only some behavioral patterns (e.g. attitudes, disposition, politeness) emerging every now and then (when medication doesn't interfere with those, which is most of the time). How much of her is left? Is she more of my grandma than Ash.2 is of the original Ash? I don't know, but this is the kind of question that always comes up in my head every time I come across fiction similar to "Be right back".

~*~