From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Mon Nov 04 2002 - 15:55:59 MST
gts wrote:
> Let us say I am a US Senator. After conversations with people whose
> advice I value, I change my position with respect to an important
> political question after my last backup. Let us say it is the question
> of whether to approve Bush's impending use of force against Iraq. I
> then die
> and my back-up is restored. My backup holds to my previous position
> and does not consult with the same people I did before my death. He
> will vote one way, whereas I would vote the other way had I not died.
>
> If my backup is me then his vote on the issue will be valid. If he is
> not me then his vote will be invalid. (Assume for a moment that the
> Senate is otherwise equally divided on the question and that my vote
> is the swing vote, and assume also that Bush will abide by the will
> of the Senate.)
>
> Who decides if my backup is the same person I was when I died? And
> based on what criteria is that decision made?
>
> Obviously *I* (the dead guy) would consider my backup's vote to be
> invalid, but unfortunately I am now dead. So who decides, Lee?
>
>> Listen, we keep going around and around on this.
>
> Please just answer the question. The future of the world hangs on the
> question of whether my backup is really me.
### If I may intrude:
The answer is quite simple - if you think the back up is not you (maybe just
before dying you exclaim something to this effect), then of course the
backup is not you. If, however, you die while saying "Activate my backup",
the backup is you. If there is no data on your last word, we have to rely on
your previous decisions - if you decided to have a backup, it implies you
believed it to be you (to a sufficient degree to not get an updated backup,
or to destroy it). Knowing you, you wouldn't have a backup, so the question
would be moot anyway.
Simple, isn't it?
Rafal
PS. It means - there is no objective criterion of self, merely more or less
useful ones.
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