Pearls and I got into a discussion of sorts (it was more like a brief scratching-the-surface discourse) about the "self." i.e. What constitutes of the self?

It started when Pearl thought her meeting was at 7:30, when in actuality it was at 8AM. She said she was "mistaken," to which I replied "you were misinformed."

If your memory is faulty, is the fault your own or were you deceived?

As an internalist, I believe that when I refer to an address in a notebook and head in a direction, that direction would not change if the address in the notebook changed unknownst to my knowledge. It is something I need to refer to, and its change would have no affect on my thoughts if I did not know about it.

If the memory is separate from the "self," then the change in memory would in no way change my thought unless I referred to it. Only when I do refer to it, it deceives me just as a notebook with a faulty address would deceive me.

Pearl's position seems to be that the memory is an integral part of the "self." In which case, faulty memory would be one's own fault. I disagree.

Let's imagine a Korean-drama-esque scenario in which I lost all of my memory. Am I not myself? If memory is indeed a factor in describing my conscious and self, then yes, I would no longer be myself. However, if some damage was to be done to this hypothetical "no-longer-me," I would not approve. I would not want this "foreign: amnesiac to be tortured, or be put to death, since I still believe that it is me.

What if I copy everything about me, including my memories, and put it in a different body that is exactly like the original? (Pearl refused to listen to this argument since she doesn't believe in cloning even for purpose of illustrating conceptual ideas) Would the new copy be me? It looks and acts like me, but again, I would not want harm to be done to the original. In fact, I believe that I would not at all identify with the new copy.

So memory isn't a determining factor of identity. (at least in my stance)

If it isn't a part of the self, it is an external factor. Like the notebook in the earlier example.

So if I remember something wrong, my memory has misled me, and I was mis-informed.

not mistaken.

Q.E.D.

(The quod erat demonstratum is a mere joke so please do not take it seriously. I don't honestly believe that I solved the centuries-old question of identifying the self.)