If one were to sit down and think "where am I?" You would think "well I'm here." But think about it in a more literal way. Yes, you are "here" but where is here; is it in your brain or is it in your body. What if your brain and body became two separate entities, how would you distinguish where you are?In In Denett's "Where Am I" he discusses this very idea. His brain and body become separate, to distinguish between the two he names them. His brain is named Yorick and his body is named Hamlet. Throughout his writing Denett has a constant debate about where he is and if he is Hamlet or Yorick. Eventually a worst case senario occurs and Hamlet becomes completely useless while Yorick was still alert and activated. Hamlet was left and Yorick was transferred to a new body. In that moment Denett learned that he truly is Yorick because while his body may change him mind will always remain the same.
In my opinion Denetts's theory that the person is their brain is valid. First off, in a literal sense your brain is controlled by your brain. Then take a minute and think a little deeper, all the thoughts we have or any memories about our lives is because of our brain. It processes our emotions and helps us to learn and grow; our brain is what shapes our identity. Denett found that when he was re-embodied there was a duplicate brain, essentially a clone. It's name was Hubert and he was a computer, a computer that was able to function as Denett's actual brain. There could've been two Denett's in the world or a "back up." At that moment Dennett had a realization, "My strongest intuition was that in such an eventuality I would survive so long either brain-body