On 3/26/2014 2:38 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 26 March 2014 17:13, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net
<mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:
On 3/25/2014 9:57 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
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?
Physical continuity is important only insofar as it leads to psychological continuity.
Psychological continuity is important because we are programmed to think it is; it has
no intrinsic importance.
I'd say physical continuity is fairly important to most people - and it's easier to
understand natural selection for it than for psychological continuity.
Brent
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality by not
dying."
--- Woody Allen
--
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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
