Re: uploads, identity, etc

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@ricochet.net)
Date: Tue Jun 05 2001 - 20:47:26 MDT


John Clark wrote

> > My identical xox, sitting beside me, will serve *your* purposes equally
> > well. But for me, I know that whatever he experiences from this moment
> > forth, for good or ill, will not be felt by me
>
>Right, but then your "identical" copy is no longer identical. I want my
copy to
>be up to date, I'd be unhappy unless it was made right now, but that's
just me.
>How long is now? About a second or two I'd say.

..."but that's just me"? :-)

Anyway, the harder problem is, suppose that your duplicate was made yesterday,
and has been enjoying a day in the Bahamas. He thinks that it's you who
should
be updated? I hope that you two don't have a dispute about who should be
"updated". Don't you also believe, John, as I do that your duplicate relaxing
in yonder isles is precisely where "this you" would be if you (a) got today's
memories erased (b) teleported to the Bahamas, and (c) got some memories
added?

After all, there would be no physical difference whatsoever between "this you"
and "that you" provided those transformations were carried out. And normally
those of us who accept the state theory of identity do not feeling very
threatened by those transformations.

Lee



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