From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun Jun 03 2001 - 03:09:12 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote,
> Suppose that we place you in a room where you can see yourself
> on closed circuit television. Now, when you move your arm,
> so does the one on the television. (The same is true of a
> mirror.) You admit that you are seeing yourself.
Yes, because I can demonstrate it to my own satisfaction. I can control the
body that I am watching. If I see it get hurt, I will feel the sensations
of pain. If somebody talks to the image on the closed-circuit TV, I will
answer appropriately and pass a Turing Test.
> But in the next experiment, you are tied up and can only
> barely move. You can visibly squirm or not squirm, and
> it's pretty hard to see whether "you" are or not doing so.
> But this time instead of a present you, you get to watch the
> you from hours ago on television. By your definition, that's
> not you. But that's incorrect. It most certifiably was you.
Wrong. The videotape image is a COPY of me, but it is not the real me. I
cannot control the copy on the screen. I cannot feel the sensations from
the copy on the screen. If somebody talks to that image, it will not
respond appropriately and will not pass a Turing Test to prove that it is
conscious. If the image on the screen is me, it is another me. I would
choose my own live body for survival over the videotape copy of "me" on the
screen. My test worked perfectly and rejects the videotape copy as a
suitable replacement for "me".
> Here is the real thing you're after: you *anticipate* being
> future you's. You will sacrifice to help a future you. You'll
> gladly submit to a few second's torture to avoid an hour's
> torture tomorrow. So this facilitates your argument. You
> don't anticipate being your duplicate---you say "torture him"
> when put to a severe enough test. I had freely admitted this
> in earlier posts, but you must have missed it.
Let's be clear on this. I do not dispute that the copy is "me". I believe
that it is a separate "me". I can't control that "me". I don't feel
pleasure or pain from that "me". It may be the same as me, but it is not
the same me.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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