From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Mon Jun 10 2002 - 17:38:55 MDT
John Clark writes
> > Lee Corbin writes:
>
> > It should matter to you whether or not two completely identical runs
> > your life occur, or only one!
>
> That is not a matter of opinion and is factually untrue. There is no way you
> can ever know how many runs of Lee Corbin are in or have been in operation
> thus like it or not in the cold light of day it will not matter to you.
Hal also mentioned that it might be germane to consider how
it would *feel* being run under various scenarios. I don't
think so. Anyway, considering your point above, I have two
questions for you.
1. Some terrible person manages to determine exactly the
courses of all the atoms in an actual historical event
in which some Nazis tortured a little girl to death.
This perverted soul then causes an exact re-enactment
of this particular horror. When challenged that his
activity is immoral, he replies: "No. According to
John K. Clark and other extropian savants, that cannot
be: you see, it makes no difference to the person
whether they run once or twice. Therefore the suffering
of the girl in *this* run is irrelevant, and it cannot
matter to her." (Yet as you listen to the terrible cries
of pain emanating from the torture chamber, part of you
is unsure, I submit.) Has this person slandered you?
2. You are informed by the OS that you have been scheduled
to run exactly twice in the history of the universe.
Thus, *this* may be the first or second time from your
perspective (although since they're identical, the point
is moot, and I give it only for the purpose of description).
You have the following choice: if you press button A then
the second run will be terminated precisely at the moment
that the button is pressed. (In other words, your first
run continues regardless of whether you press A or not;
but the second run is affected.) Do you press the button
for ten dollars?
Lee
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