From: Louis Newstrom (louisnews@comcast.net)
Date: Wed May 01 2002 - 11:26:05 MDT
From: "Adrian Tymes" <wingcat@pacbell.net>
> This almost exactly duplicates Descartes' infamous musing. If you were
> uploaded into a VR that *perfectly* replicated your current reality, in
> a way that you did not remember the upload, then no, it would not
> matter: by definition, there would be no difference to you.
I disagree. There may be no difference in the position of matter and energy
that I perceive, but there IS a big differnce.
It would mean, for example, that those in pain could be cured, but that some
intelligent being has decided not to. Also, our loved ones who die, need
not die. They could be saved. This is diferent from reality, where these
things are beyond anyone's control.
As a related analogy: Imagine a child on the railroad tracks gets killed by
a train. Now imagine that an adult knew this was going to happen and didn't
stop it. Would you say "the result is the same, so it doesn't matter"? I
wouldn't.
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