if comp and the null hypothesis (everithing exist) is accepted, then a
infinity of copies of you are now being kicked by a wild horse while being
eaten by bugs in an ocean of acid. So it does not matter what just a single
copy of you is doing whatever ;)


2013/2/13 Bruno Marchal <[email protected]>

>
> 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).
>
> If we assume non-comp, then the answer will be dependent on the theory of
> mind that we might propose.
>
> Bruno
>
>
>
>
>
>> --
>> Stathis Papaioannou
>>
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>>
> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~**marchal/ <http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/>
>
>
>
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-- 
Alberto.

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