From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Mon Aug 31 1998 - 22:11:14 MDT
Joe Jenkins joe_jenkins@yahoo.com Wrote:
>Your thought experiment, that I've omitted here, about my
>biological twin brother shows you have missed my point
>completely.
You're correct, I don't understand your point. The Joe Jenkins who grew
up in China is not you but the Joe Jenkins chained to a bomb has no
fear because he's the same person having fun at a party. It does not
compute.
>The fuzzy area of identity is bounded by what my ego would
>perceive as me, not by all the states my biological brain could
>achieve as dictated by my genes.
In other words, if I think it's me it is. Sounds reasonable, but if I'm
chained to a bomb I don't think I'm having fun at a party so that must
be some other fellow.
>Under normal circumstances I'd say the fuzzy area in my identity
>line would be from 5 years to one month ago.
Time is irrelevant, accuracy of the copies is not.
>We are in a three minute non recoverable free fall headed strait
>for assured destruction with the ground. All three of us did a
>backup procedure last week. Mr. Randall is shitting his pants,
>Mr. Clark is trembling and sweating and believe it or not,
>praying. I'm looking at these guys, laughing my head off,
>completely entertained by this whole thing.
Everybody likes to fantasize but nobody, including you, can know how
you would react in an actual life or death situation, I suspect that in
real life your behavior would be somewhat different. But perhaps not,
some people would act in the way you suggest even if they had no backup
and expected nothing but oblivion. To each their own, there is nothing
logical or illogical in the desire for self preservation, it's just a
tendency that exists in most but not all people.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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