From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Fri Dec 14 2001 - 08:04:49 MST
From: Samantha Atkins [mailto:samantha@objectent.com]
Clint O'Dell wrote:
>
> Now both beings wake up. Which one is you?
> Same body. Same personality. Same memories. Which one is you? Are you the
> one who was put to sleep and came in that day to be cloned? Or was that
the
> other you and you are just the copy?
>
"Both are you. And both would probably make themselves unhappy worrying
about whether they themselves are "you". Worrying about copy versus
continuance may not make a lot of sense if both have ALL your memories and
subjective experience."
I would disagree, if you separated the two beings they would not both
experience the same subjective things. Therefore they are not the same
'being' One of them was the original you, one is a copy, one had subjective
continuity of consciousness, the other has only the memory of subjectivity
continuity of consciousness. Of course no test could ever be performed to
determine which one was the original, but it doesn't matter, as ONE of them
necessarily was, and experienced a subjective continuity of consciousness.
If the copying process was destructive, then the copy would not have
experienced a subjective continuity of consciousness, since if it wasn't
destructive, both the copy and the original would have separate and isolated
subjective experiences. Therefore a copy is not a subjective continuation
of you.
Michael
LEGAL NOTICE
Unless expressly stated otherwise, this message is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. Access to this E-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, any disclosure or copying of the contents of this E-mail or any action taken (or not taken) in reliance on it is unauthorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an addressee, please inform the sender immediately.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:12:32 MST