From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Mon Oct 14 2002 - 12:17:11 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
> You walk into a room and discover a frozen duplicate
> of you created a few minutes ago. There he is, sprawled
> out in the ice as was the Frankenstein monster. On top
> the cask of ice sits a briefcase containing ten million
> dollars. You must choose between (A) to have your xox
> and the $10M vaporized, or (B) to be vaporized yourself
> with your duplicate getting to be thawed out and sent
> happily on his way to the bank with his new ten million.
I think it would depend entirely on whether I, the decision maker, would
experience a sense of subjective continuity under the self-vaporization
option. And I believe I would experience no such sense of continuity --
I will die if I choose B. As Eliezer pointed out, I might still choose B
as an act of self-sacrifice for the purpose of allowing someone like me
to pursue similar hopes and dreams. I might find such a decision
rewarding in itself, but I would not personally experience the
subsequent benefits of that altruistic act.
Think about his for yourself: while pondering your choice of A or B, ask
yourself if your identity truly equates to your frozen duplicate's
identity. If your answer is "yes" then why do you not also feel and
think nothing at this moment, as does your alleged duplicate in frozen
suspension? The answer seems obvious to me: you and your alleged
duplicate now exist as two separate people with two separate identities.
The word "duplicate" does not fit into the problem as so stated, except
in so much as it relates to the equality of outward physical
appearances. Your brain/mind exists in a state distinct from that of the
frozen person's brain/mind, making the word "duplicate" a misnomer.
I can see no reason that your act of self-vaporization would make you
and your alleged duplicate into a single thawed-out person with a
continuous sense of self. Can anyone explain the mechanism by which one
individual's sense of self should pass to another individual upon the
death of the first individual? It seems to me that belief in such a
thing is tantamount to a belief in witchcraft.
-gts
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