From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Tue Jun 11 2002 - 21:10:51 MDT
>
> > How would the sims whose runs terminate ever experience
> that? It would be
> > outside their experience. It's not like it'd be a personal tradgedy.
> > Interesting.
>
Hal wrote:
> Right, that's the confusing thing about this experiment. Compare it
> to the simpler case where there is one run and you can push a
> button to
> stop the run. In that situation, pushing the button would be
> tantamount
> to instantaneous suicide. But it would still be true what you say,
> that a sim whose run terminates never really experiences that fact.
> The death is so instantaneous that he doesn't feel it, and he's not
> around afterwards to notice that he's dead.
>
> However I think there is still a difference between the two examples.
> In the single-run case, where there is no duplication,
> pushing the button
> will not lead to a perceptible change on the part of the sim, since it
> is no longer running. Nevertheless, if we believe in the reality of
> consciousness, we can say with confidence that there has been
> a change.
> A consciousness which formerly existed has been snuffed out. Before
> pushing the button, there was someone having thoughts, and afterwards,
> there is not.
Except that it is identical to a timeshare arrangement, where it is suddenly
not that sim's timeslice anymore. The only difference is that in a timeslice
arrangement, there is an intention to bestow future runtime. This intention
(or lack thereof) is not knowable to the sim, and the ability to act on that
intention is not knowable to the sim administrator with 100% certainty
(because shit happens). So this situation is has the same ethical (?)
repercussions as a timeslicing intelligence sim.
Emlyn
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