From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Nov 30 2001 - 22:49:30 MST
At 12:24 AM 12/1/01 -0500, JKC wrote:
>Louis Newstrom <lnewstro@bellsouth.net> Wrote:
> >Say I have to variables, A and B. How can I tell if they are the "same
> >identity" or not?
>Swap A and B and then see if there is any detectable change in the system.
>That's why I can say with confidence that the message you wrote on your
>computer is the same one I'm reading now. And that's why an exact copy of
>me is me.
This analogy has so many holes in it, it's more gap than surround.
As John has noted in the past, *no* copy can be `exact' if its spatial
location is a relevant attribute.
Humans are (usually)-conscious bodies importantly located in space and time
and contextually *imbricated* (to use a technical term: like individual
feathers woven into a wing, say).
If A and B were not messages but *persons*, they'd squeal when swapped.
QED.
Damien Broderick
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