On 10 January 2014 11:01, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote: > On 1/9/2014 1:15 PM, LizR wrote: > > On 10 January 2014 09:20, Edgar L. Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Terren, >> >> I understand very well that's what the 'yes dr.' scenario is but it's >> an impossibility to be exactly 'me' for the reasons I pointed out. You >> can't come up with a hypothetical scenario which isn't actually physically >> possible and make a correct deduction about reality on that basis. >> >> The no-cloning theorem means that if the correct substitution level is > the quantum level (or below), then it is physically impossible for us to > create a digital copy of a brain that creates the same state of > consciousness, in which case the above objection is valid. > > However, it isn't clear that this *is *the substitution level. Max > Tegmark has suggested that the brain is essentially a classical computer > (rather than quantum) which may in principle put the level above the > quantum. If he's right, then making a copy of a brain at the right level > becomes possible, albeit beyond present technology, and thought experiments > may legitimately use that idea (because it's possible in principle). > Personally I don't agree, I think that any copy made above the quantum > level isn't *guaranteed* to be the same, while a quantum recreation is > *guaranteed > by the laws of physics to be identical*. So assuming the substitution > level is the quantum level cuts out a host of possible objections. > > > But a lot depends on what you mean by "the same". As Terren points out, no > one is exactly the same from minute-to-minute or day-to-day. They are > similar enough that we denominate them the same person, even Gabby > Gifford is still "the same person" to a pretty good approximation. >
I covered that topic (at some length) further down the post. -- 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
