>
>
> On Thu, 26 Aug 1999 hal@finney.org wrote:
>
> > There will be new minds created, conscious and full of potential, but
> > some of them will have different opportunities and training than others.
>
> I think we have a problem with the term "mind" here. We have the
> concept of a conscious entity. We have the concept of creating
> an "unformed" conscious entity and letting it evolve (children).
> We have the concept of uploading oneself onto new hardware.
> We have the concept of creating backup copies to be reactivated
> in the case of an accident.
>
> > Q3: If you "edit" the backup copies when they are "inactive"
> (so they feel no pain) and activate them are they new individuals
> with their own free will or are they your "property" (i.e. slaves)?
>
The question above interested me. The way I think is that if there are multiple copies of yourself, you cease to become the primary self, "the original one", you have now "deintergrated"(my term). All of the copies are equal to each other and are in essence your selves, it is equally valid for any of the "copies" to claim to be the original one. But in my opinion, that's neither true or false. They would have free will and couldn't be slaves of any overlord since there's not a such thing. I could speculate in perhaps in the future, it will be possible to create multiple selves (possibly of different sex and/or races but with common mentality) and sent them out into the world. Then some time in the future, have a Far Edge Party, where the selves return and reintergrate into the "primary" self that existed before the deintergration, who possesses all of the knowledge accumlated by the selves.