On 3/25/2014 9:57 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 26 Mar 2014, at 1:56 pm, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 3/25/2014 6:57 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 26 March 2014 12:55, LizR <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
wrote:
On 26 March 2014 14:50, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 26 March 2014 12:45, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 3/25/2014 6:34 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 26 March 2014 12:15, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
An infinite universe (Tegmark type 1) implies that our
consciousness flits about from one copy of us to another and
that as a consequence we are immortal, so it does affect us
even
if there is no physical communication between its distant
parts.
That seems to imply that one's consciousness is unique and moves
around like a soul.
There's no dodgy metaphysical mechanism involved. If there are
multiple
physical copies of you, and each copy has a similar consciousness
to you,
then you can't know which copy is currently generating your
consciousness.
I think the idea is that the "stream of consciousness" is
unified so
long as all the copies are being realized identically, in fact
they
are not "multiple" per Leibniz's identity of indiscernibles.
When
there is some quantum event amplified enough to make a
difference in
the stream of consciousness then the stream divides and there
are two
(or more) streams.
An implication of this is that if one of the streams terminates your
consciousness will continue in the other.
But it will, at best be *similar* to the deceased "you", just as I
am
quite different from Brent Meeker of 50yrs ago. And there is no
quarantee
that some stream will continue.
Similar is good enough. There is a guarantee that some branch will
continue if
everything that can happen does happen.
Surely in an infinite universe, and assuming the identity of quantum
states, you
don't need similarity - you will get a quantum state that is a follow-on
from your
previous one, but in which you continue to be alive...
Of course this depends on what it means for quantum states to follow on
from other
ones. But our brains already seem to "know" what that means, in that we
feel we're
the same person we were this morning, and so we feel continuity of "similar
enough" quantum states. Unless QM is wrong about the nature of quantum
states, we
will feel continuity if the "follow on" state is actually 10 ^ 10 ^ 100
light
years away (or 10 ^ 10 ^ 100 years away) from the preceeding state.
I agree but I don't think you need to refer to QM at all. The conclusion would still
follow in a classical infinite universe.
Probably not since classical physics is based on real numbers (and so is quantum
mechanics for that matter). Of course you could still fall back on "similar enough".
But in that case you will, as you are dying, pass into a state of consciousness (i.e.
none) that is "similar enough" to a fetus (of some animal) or maybe a cabbage.
You don't need an *exact* copy, just a good enough copy. If an exact copy were needed,
either at the quantum level or to an infinite number of decimal places, then we could
not survive from one moment to the next, since in a very small period there are quite
gross physical changes in our bodies.
My point exactly - We DON'T survive moment to moment except in rough approximation and so
as we deteriorate in old age we may come to approximate topsoil. The question is, why
should conscious continuity preserve "us" while physical continuity doesn't count? Is it
just our ego that says consciouness should be preserved - no matter how much it changes?
Brent
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