On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 9:18 AM, Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On 13 Feb 2013, at 04:09, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > > On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Jason Resch <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Consider the following thought experiment, called "The Duplicators": >>> >>> At 1:00 PM tomorrow, you will be abducted by aliens. The aliens will tell >>> you not to worry, that you won't be harmed but they wish to conduct some >>> experiments on the subject of pain, which is unknown to them. These >>> aliens >>> possess technology far in advance of our own. They have the ability to >>> scan >>> and replicate objects down to the atomic level and the aliens use this >>> technology to create an atom-for-atom duplicate of yourself, which they >>> call >>> you2. The aliens thank you for your assistance and return you unharmed >>> back >>> to your home by 5:00 PM. You ask them "What about the pain experiments?" >>> and >>> they hand you an informational pamphlet and quickly fly off. You read the >>> pamphlet which explains that a duplicate of you (you2) was created and >>> subjected to some rather terrible pain experiments, akin to what humans >>> call >>> torture and at the end of the experiment you2 was euthanized. You >>> consider >>> this awful, but are nonetheless glad that they tortured your duplicate >>> rather than you. >>> >>> Now consider the slightly different thought experiment, called "The >>> Restorers": >>> >>> At 1:00 PM tomorrow, you will be abducted by aliens. Unlike the aliens >>> with >>> the duplication technology (the duplicators), these aliens possess a >>> restorative technology. They can perfectly erase memories and all other >>> physical traces to perfectly restore you to a previous state. The aliens >>> will tell you not to worry, that you won't be harmed but they wish to >>> conduct some experiments on the subject of pain, which is unknown to >>> them. >>> They then proceed to brutually torture you for many hours, conducting >>> test >>> after test on pain. Afterwards, they erase your memory of the torture and >>> all traces of injury and stress from your body. When they are finished, >>> you >>> are atom-for-atom identical to how you were before the torture began. The >>> aliens thank you for your assistance and return you unharmed back to your >>> home by 5:00 PM. You ask them "What about the pain experiments?" and they >>> hand you an informational pamphlet and quickly fly off. You read the >>> pamphlet which explains that a duplicate of you (you2) was created and >>> subjected to some rather terrible pain experiments, akin to what humans >>> call >>> torture and at the end of the experiment you2 was euthenized. You >>> consider >>> this awful, but are nonetheless glad that they tortured your duplicate >>> rather than you. >>> >>> My questions for the list: >>> >>> 1. Do you consider yourself to have experienced the torture in the case >>> of >>> the Restorers, even though you no longer remember it? If not, why not. >>> >>> 2. If yes, do you consider yourself to have experienced the torture in >>> the >>> case of the Duplicators? If yes, please explain, if not, please explain. >>> >>> 3. If you could choose which aliens would abduct you, is there one you >>> would >>> prefer? If you have a preference, please provide some justification. >>> >> >> The two experiments are equivalent. Rationally, you should not have a >> preference for either - though both are bad in that you experience >> pain but then forget it. >> > > OK, same answer (assuming comp). > With comp are the probabilities the same? For instance, would there be a "50% chance of experiencing the torture when duplicated vs. 100% in the case of the memory wipe? Jason > If we assume non-comp, then the answer will be dependent on the theory of > mind that we might propose. > > Bruno > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
