From: Smigrodzki, Rafal (SmigrodzkiR@MSX.UPMC.EDU)
Date: Sun Jun 03 2001 - 18:04:44 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
I have deleted the rest of your arguments. None of them were scientific.
They all represented descriptions of how much nicer things would be under
your view. Unfortunately, we cannot choose a viewpoint because we like
it.
A viewpoint must be chosen that matches reality, or the viewpoint will
fail
to deliver all the things you wish for.
If I wish for an entity containing most of my memories, all the important
ethical opinions, etc. , to exist (hopefully) in the year 2200, then an
identity model which allows for copying (in the form of uploading by
microtome, for example), will not be incompatible with reality (what could
be incompatible there?), and might deliver. Indeed, sometimes we do choose a
view only because we like it - I like Mozart, not because it is a property
of Mozart but because my Broca's area gets the right vibes (as recently
shown by MRI scanning), and I just like it.
This kind of reasoning forms the core of ethics and esthetics. It is a then
matter of personal taste if you like the idea of teleportation or copying,
but it is not an intersubjective, verifiable statement ( as in 2+2=5).
Rafal Smigrodzki MD-PhD
Dept Neurology University of Pittsburgh
smigrodzkir@msx.upmc.edu
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