From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Nov 12 2002 - 16:57:49 MST
gts writes
> Assuming MWI, there is someone in an alternate universe named Lee Corbin
> who was born on your birthday to the same parents, but who is otherwise
> nothing like you....
That's right, and that's why he's not me.
> He has no interest in philosophy or science or
> extropianism. He spends his free time smoking cheap cigars, drinking
> cheap whisky and betting on horses. He wears plaid pants with striped
> shirts, curses constantly, beats women, and belches proudly in public
> places.
>
> The personality of that Lee Corbin is so vastly different from yours
> that no one would ever mistake him for you. He shares your *nominal*
> identity but not your *non-nominal* identity.
Correct.
> The same scenario can arise in a non-MWI world given the passage of
> enough time and events from the time of the bifurcation. In either case
> it is absurd to say that you and that alternate version have the same
> non-nominal identity. The two of you are the same in name only, even if
> you happen to share some memories in common.
The key point is "given enough time". Yes, you are correct.
> > May I ask some details of your thought-experiment
> > (which is very good, and even crucial, I would say)?
> > You say "A person who walks into this chamber instantly
> > becomes two people, Person-A and Person-B, each of whom
> > then walk out of one of the two exits."
> >
> > Where did the atoms come from that constitute Person-A
> > and Person-B?
>
> I don't see how that is important but let us say the bifurcation chamber
> stores several hundred pounds of the various different elements needed
> to manufacture a duplicate. Those elements are replenished after each
> use.
I understand how atoms can be withdrawn from a repository.
I want you to give me separate histories for where the atoms
of Person A (by definition the entity who walks out of door
A) come from, and for where the atoms of Person B came from.
I cannot really understand your thought experiment, above,
until you tell me this.
Lee
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