From: Luke Howison (lukeh@ihug.co.nz)
Date: Mon Dec 04 2000 - 15:35:58 MST
Hi Extropians,
Nicq MacDonald wrote most of the following:
> > >A backup would just be a copy- your consciousness would be
> gone forever.
> >
> > Could you define "consciousness" for us in the sense of describing
> > what you would have lost by being restored from a backup?
>
> The awareness of my self from a subjective point of view- my own
> existence.
> A backup would only be a copy of me. To an external observer, it would be
> identical, and to it, it would be consciously aware as myself,
> but it would
> not be me. I would be gone, my conscious with me.
There is only ever one of a specific entity (due to the nature of reality).
What is important is the aim of the backup - to provide a good continutation
of you; your values and beliefs, your physical presence, your wifes husband,
your families son, your workmates colleague. Any copy worth its salt will
do all that; and think it is you as well; there is no point nitpicking about
whether it really is you or not, if is a satisfactory continuation of you.
> See the recent movie "The Sixth Day". I can't remember the name of the
> character at the moment, but near the end of the movie, when he clones
> himself while he's dying, he realizes that the new self is not him, it is
> merely a copy, and he's toast. This is precisely what I'm
> talking about- a
> copy is not the original. The original, "I", is what I'm concerned about-
> not the data that is flying about, or the matter it's made up of.
Sure, 'you' might die - but at least you will be able to leave a person
behind who thinks he is you and will be able to continue lifes journey,
lifes struggle, or lifes party on the beach for you (depending on your
outlook). Its better than nothing, right?
> Since we
> still don't understand the nature of the "I", we're a million miles from
> truly duplicating it.
I can't read Hungarian, but I could duplicate it with a photocopier. Maybe
we don't understand the nature of consciousness yet, but if it follows
ordinary reality/physical laws, all evidence points to us being able to
duplicate it.
Luke H
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