From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@ricochet.net)
Date: Wed May 30 2001 - 01:33:12 MDT
Emlyn wrote:
>...an SI from the future... tells me that it has made an upload of me,
>who even now is running in a simulation inside Jupiter... having a great
>time driving around inn the asteroid belt. This sounds reasonable to me..
>
>According to Lee's conjecture, this upload running around in Jupiter
>actually is me. But I, here on earth, see that as a somewhat abstract
>proposition...
Yes, it is abstract. IMHO it's as hard for us to accustom ourselves
to the truth of the idea as it was for people once upon a time to
think that the Earth was moving.
>I feel pretty much like me here on Earth, just as I did a
>few minutes before. I would probably be happy to meet the
>jupiter-sim me (probably he's a damned cool guy, after all),
well, he'd have to be if he was simultaneously a computer-jock,
rock-star, and extropian...
>...but I don't think I'd be happy if he emptied out my
>bank account, or ate my dinner.
Certainly not.
>So, how in fact is the copy actually me?
One implication of total materialism is that differences between
objects that are not physical differences are not really differences
at all. Since you and your duplicate are not substantially
different, physics can be read as implying that there is no
important difference between you.
That guy on Jupiter is you exactly as much as the you-of-last-week
was you, or the you-of-tomorrow will be you. In fact, if the copy
was made just a couple of moments ago, then he and you are much more
similar than you and you-yesterday are.
To be sure, there are parts of one that one cannot disgorge, and
these parts cannot realize the truth. For example, tie me down
and ask me if I should be tortured or my duplicate should be
tortured. If I give you the "wrong" answer, then after a short
time (or a long time if I'm really stubborn) I will start giving
you the right answer. But that's the animal in me. It's been
wired for certain things, like avoiding pain.
I claim to have a proof that duplicates are self, though I guess
"proof" may be a tad bit strong. Still, I've been told that this
essay is pretty effective:
http://www.leecorbin.com/dupproof.html
Lee
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