From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Nov 12 2002 - 09:28:05 MST
Lee Corbin wrote:
> To recap, in MWI the original splits into two. They're
> equally "him" (and, in the sense you have emphasized in
> earlier posts, "not-him").
They WERE equally him before the split, but NOW, in the PRESENT, they
are different people with different experiences, thoughts and
personalities. They are similar NOW only in that they share some common
memories, no different from copies in the kind of bifurcations we've
discussed here outside the context of MWI.
Assuming MWI, there is someone in an alternate universe named Lee Corbin
who was born on your birthday to the same parents, but who is otherwise
nothing like you. He has no interest in philosophy or science or
extropianism. He spends his free time smoking cheap cigars, drinking
cheap whisky and betting on horses. He wears plaid pants with striped
shirts, curses constantly, beats women, and belches proudly in public
places.
The personality of that Lee Corbin is so vastly different from yours
that no one would ever mistake him for you. He shares your *nominal*
identity but not your *non-nominal* identity.
The same scenario can arise in a non-MWI world given the passage of
enough time and events from the time of the bifurcation. In either case
it is absurd to say that you and that alternate version have the same
non-nominal identity. The two of you are the same in name only, even if
you happen to share some memories in common.
> May I ask some details of your thought-experiment
> (which is very good, and even crucial, I would say)?
> You say "A person who walks into this chamber instantly
> becomes two people, Person-A and Person-B, each of whom
> then walk out of one of the two exits."
>
> Where did the atoms come from that constitute Person-A
> and Person-B?
I don't see how that is important but let us say the bifurcation chamber
stores several hundred pounds of the various different elements needed
to manufacture a duplicate. Those elements are replenished after each
use.
-gts
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