From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Jun 18 2002 - 18:09:04 MDT
Mike writes
> Egan's allegedly absurd Theory of Dust in Permutation City is no more
> absurd than quantum theory is, and explains a lot about the absurdities
> of quantum theory, as a permutation on Heinlein's World as Myth theory,
> though it doesn't assign a probability to a universe existing based on
> how prevalently a particular myth is believed or fantasized about. Each
> instance of simulation, on a silicon or biological computer, is a
> universe. To deny this is to deny that our own universe is a simulation.
Quantum theory is not absurd. Yes, it takes some getting used
to, and yes, evidently it continues to feel odd to our monkey
brains forever (at least that's what Feynman appears to say).
Here is what the "Theory of Dust" says to me (and it's not at
all clear that Egan really believed it). Suppose that our
physical universe is very large, and that if we were to be
able to somehow examine each cubic kilometer of intergalactic
space, we would eventually find one that had a sequence of
hydrogen and helium atoms whose spatial relationships coded
the brain pattern of Mike Lorrey at exactly 12:00:00 on
October 1, 2001. Then we continue our search (and can even
examine spaces millions of years ago too if we want), and
eventually find, perhaps a billion light years in the other
direction, a cubic kilometer of space which has particles
arranged in the same pattern as Mike Lorrey's brain was
at 12:00:00.001. We continue the search, and finally have
an entire sequence of such patterns that corresponds to
each microsecond (why not?) of Mike Lorrey's brain between
12:00 and 12:05 on October 1, 2001.
Well, we know that ML was conscious during that interval, and
definitely was having experiences. (If not, we pick some
other five minute interval.) Are we therefore to assume that
all that intergalactic dust is equally to be held as having
the same experiences? I say that this is absurd, because
why stop at contiguous particles in cubic kilometers? If
we carefully count in order just certain particles in the
sun, then we can pick out any pattern we like.
In the same vein, there must exist a sequence of integers that
is isomorphic to that 5 minute ML interval.
I claim that to suppose Mike Lorrey to be just as much alive
among those picked out patterns, or those integers, or those
patterns of hydrogen atoms is absurd.
Lee
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