From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat Dec 15 2001 - 22:34:03 MST
Harvey Newstrom <mail@HarveyNewstrom.com> Wrote:
> 1. Can copies can tell themselves apart?
> Yes. Each one consistently refers to themselves as "me, here" and the other
> one as "you, there".
In my thought experiment not only were the copies identical but so was the
environments, so "here" and "there" do not have a unique meaning.
> 2. Can copies can tell which was the original and which was the recreation?
> This is a historical question. If they kept track and have memory of the
> copying event, they would remember which one was the original and which one
> was the copy.
How? They both have identical memories, they both remember walking
into the symmetrical duplicating chamber and watching somebody who looks
just like them pop into existence in front of them.
> "I am the copy standing right here. I am not the other copy standing over there."
Remember this is a symmetrical room so"Here" and "there" are meaningless sounds in
this example because the optic nerves in both bodies is feeding the exact same signal
into the two brains. There is double the normal amount of protoplasm but there is only
one conscious being.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:12:34 MST