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Comment by kinj28 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how authentic the hat must be after restoration? And how exactly restoration is done ? It seems restoration had to be funded so must be some elaborate process.

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Presuming they were careful to preserve the area of the hat surface, likely very authentic. If it doesn't have any creases, there's precious little you can do to reshape a given convex piece of felt. More oblate/more circular is really about it.

Now, felt can be reshaped easily with steam-level heat - but that would require a conscious effort.

The hat of Theseus

I learned the formal name later in life but for many years pondered this in terms of sports teams. “I’m a Rams fan!” Are you really though?

I have been a Rams fan twice. I saw them defeat the Browns in a preseason game that benefited some charity (Fearsome Foursome era). It took place at the Coliseum. A blocked Browns punt sent the ball into the Browns end zone to settle the game in the final minutes. Then some scallawag moved the team to St Louis, and then better people moved it back to Los Angeles.

Aren’t all “teams” “of Theseus”? If the team remains in one city for say, 60 years, the people have changed over and over again. The stadium is probably different.

The academic ship is too abstract, I like the sport team concept. Name, ownership, coach, players, like you said stadium. I can't think of any immutable identity one of those teams has.

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