One self: The logic of experience

What at last convinced me of the irrelevance of any detailed types to personal identity was the discovery, as late as January, 1983, of a statistical argument that opened up types as convincingly as the earlier argument had opened up tokens.

Suppose for a moment that your existence had required a detailed type, such as a particular pattern of experience, memory or genetic coding. Then there would have been an enormous coincidence attached to yours having been a pattern that occurs naturally. Of all the types that might have a priori defined someone’s identity, yours would have happened to be one of the incredibly small proportion reflective of the actual order of nature.