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“The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object which has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object. According to legend, Theseus, the mythical Greek founder-king of Athens, rescued the children of Athens from King Minos after slaying the minotaur and then escaped onto a ship going to Delos. Each year, the Athenians commemorated this by taking the ship on a pilgrimage to Delos to honor Apollo. A question was raised by ancient philosophers: After several centuries of maintenance, if each individual part of the Ship of Theseus was replaced, one at a time, was it still the same ship?”
The Shim of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether a biological female (male) who has had all of their anatomical and cellular components replaced with biologically male (female) cellular components remains the same sex. (Note: This is not a question of gender identity but rather sexual plasticity in the biological sense).
Some questions arise:
- At what point does the transition occur?
- The original intent? Some functional capability (ex. reproductive ability)? Presence primary/secondary characteristics? Social acknowledgment?
- Is there even a “transition” to speak of? Ie is sex continuous?
- Is it biologically feasible?
- Does developmental history matter?
- Is it technologically feasible?