From: Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Date: Mon Nov 02 1998 - 17:36:42 MST
Doug Bailey, <nanotech@cwix.com>, writes:
> If it were me, I would have a two backups stored of the latest acceptable
> version of my mind (heuristics, knowledgewebs, etc.).
>
> Backup One: The Judge
>
> There would be a gatekeeper AI that would be in charge of one backup. After
> a 24 hour period (objective time), the gatekeeper would boot-up my backup
Don't you mean "subjective time"? In objective time 24 hours might be
a subjective century for you.
> and let me scrutinize the current me (the end state of the last 24 hours of
> mind morphing). If the backup me thinks the new me is acceptable, the
> gatekeeper overwrites the new me over the backup copy and the cycle begins
> again anew. If the backup me thinks the new me is unacceptable (e.g.,
> suicidal, psychotic, just plain "weird") then the new me is overwritten with
> the backup me and the cycle begins anew.
This is an interesting approach. I can conceive of cases where it might
not work well, but they are not very convincing. Maybe you could drift
into an uptight, restricted mindset, and the only way out of it is by
some kind of mind-blowing, consciousness-expanding experience, the very
thing which would be rejected by your Judge. More serious might be a
subtle memetic trap, like some kind of cult where you get sucked into
it gradually. Now your Judge is helping to enforce your new mindset
and it's going to be harder to break free.
Still, I can understand the theory that if a change is truly worth making,
then it will still seem attractive the next morning. Even the situations
I have described here can be overcome, via a gradual process of awakening
and enlightenment. Giving up the ability to have overnight mindquakes may
well be a good strategy in the long run.
Certain aspects of this approach may make people uncomfortable.
Some people will be squeamish about the "death" the Judge faces when he
allows himself to be overwritten by the next day's copy. When in the
role of Judge, they might find themselves tempted to preserve their train
of thought even at the cost of losing a day's experience. This kind of
identity management would not be not appropriate for people with such
views.
I suspect, thought, that given the ability to do the manipulations
described here, most people would be forced to adopt more sophisticated
approaches to identity.
Hal
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