Re: Identity

From: christophe delriviere (darkmichet@bigfoot.com)
Date: Thu Nov 19 1998 - 16:39:00 MST


> I think we'd need to start with the word "identical". It two things
> can be
> exchanged and no change can be detected by the outside world then the
> two
> things are identical. An unproved and unprovable but nevertheless
> reasonable
> corollary is that it doesn't matter internally either.
>
> If everything you know I know, and everything I see feel and hear you
> see and
> feel and hear then our brains (or consciousness) could be exchanged
> and the
> external would could not tell the difference in our behavior, and
> neither
> could the Clark/Yudkowsky composite being. We would share the same
> identity.

Ah, but we are not in quantum mecanics here, brains are macroscopic
objects, so we can track their positions in space-time. A brain is also
strongly defined by his position.
That's why, even if everything you know I know, and everything I see
feel and hear you see and
feel and hear, even if we are for a moment complete identical copies, we
can't be exchanged.

delriviere
christophe



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