i had a thought today about the concept of the ship of theseus

so the idea of the ship of theseus, to its bare essentials, is thus: "if you replace all the parts of something, is it the same thing as it was?"

obviously i don't expect that the observations i'll be making will be revolutionary or even unique! but that's the way of philosophy and also just the entirety of humanity. (it's all about authenticity.) but it did have me thinking...

do the new things added to this theoretical ship not integrate themselves into the ship? does it not simply help it function and in the end become part of the ship, regardless of when it was introduced? humans shed their skin cells fast enough that your skin make-up (not the cosmetic kind) is pretty much different from what it was 7 years ago. does that not make it your skin?

i know the point of this concept is to be open ended. i think it can cover so many concepts that i don't know that i can cover all the ones i'm even thinking about, but i know a lot of the broad strokes are parallel.

whether it's a ship, a person, or collective.... i think the transient nature of the self means that the way the ship was is only relevant in where it is in the end. if that makes sense.

like, you aren't the same person you were when you were younger, obviously. lots of things change over time, especially yourself, even if it's only physically. the concept of the original self is historical. you're always changing, or improving, or both. same goes for things like long term projects, group efforts, and boats. not everything is a good change, but it doesn't mean you aren't still you, right?

i dont know that i could know or posit that there is a sort of immutable soul or self, or anything like that. i feel like that is one of the silent conjectures of the original concept, that there must be some spiritual or ethereal component that keeps the ability to label the ship theseus.

anyway. tldr i think that one has to acknowledge that, 1. the ship's components do not stay 'foreign' to the ship itself over time, and 2. if it does, so what? it grows old, just like you.