>>13192642"You" are the sum total of all the processes that make up your cognitive abilities. Conflating your consciousness with a wholly immutable object such as say, a chair (yes I know it's not actually immutable, but its state is generally unchanged for a long period of time), would be a poor representation of cognitive function. Unlike something more definitive on concrete, the functions that make up your self are variable, and experience change both in the short and long term. If you cut out a portion of your brain that deals with long term memory and you forget everything you know but otherwise retain your personality, can we really say that this is you?
It is best to represent your mind as a reservoir, which represents the total functions that make up your self. Occasionally portions of that self will be released as needed, or forcibly as the environment dictates. The strata that hold the water is itself unchanged, but the water flows into it freely, and exits all the same. You are not the same person you were a decade ago, or a year ago, or even a few minutes ago, however similar you may appear. To answer the question of the ship of Theseus, yes, even with the removal of a single splinter or board, the ship has changed irrevocably. You can still call it the ship of Theseus if it retains some semblance in appearance and function, but it is no longer the same ship.
