From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Nov 06 2002 - 13:43:46 MST
Eugen Leitl wrote:
> I'm ready to translate any gedanken you want to do with flesh people,
> cloning, teleporting and similiar into this framework. Let's roll.
Okay. I have a hunch that you and I are not going to find much disagreement,
Eugene, but let's go ahead and play the game anyway. I could be wrong.
Below is the gedanken I'm using currently in my debate with Lee Corbin. It
is designed to expose the logical flaw in his argument that a delayed backup
is actually identical to the person who dies. I don't know if you have read
the messages from Lee and me in the duck me! thread, so I am going to repeat
my words here with some modifications. (My apologies to those of you who are
already familiar with this thought experiment.)
Let us say I am a US Senator. After my last backup, I publicly change my
position with respect to the question of whether to approve Bush's impending
use of force against Iraq. Assume that my vote will be the swing vote and
that Bush will abide by the will of the Senate. The Senate is scheduled to
vote on the matter this afternoon. At lunch, I choke on a chicken bone and
die. My death is reported immediately on CNN. My aids hurry to restore my
backup so that I can vote this afternoon. This too is reported on CNN.
My old backup is restored but he holds to my previous position on the Iraq
question. He will vote contrary to the way I would have voted had I not
died.
Should the American public consider my backup to be me? If so then his vote
is valid. If he should not be considered as be me then his vote is invalid.
The future of the world hangs on this question of whether my backup is
really me.
In my view my backup is most certainly *not* me. His vote should be
considered invalid. His different opinion on Iraq is sufficient reason to
consider him a different person. Furthermore, because subtle personality
changes like these happen constantly in response to one's environment, it
follows that delayed backups should never be considered to have the same
identity as their originals.
Does your vision of a "SHRDLU world" give a different interpretation? If so,
why?
-gts
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