On 6/22/2015 11:18 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 23 June 2015 at 14:19, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net <mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>>
wrote:
On 6/22/2015 8:11 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 23 June 2015 at 10:05, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net
<mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:
On 6/22/2015 2:56 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On Tuesday, June 23, 2015, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net
<mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:
On 6/22/2015 3:11 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 22 June 2015 at 17:33, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au>
wrote:
Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
The "closest continuer" idea is wrong on many
counts. Both
copies consider themselves to be the original -
both are
wrong
in your view. But if one copy was 0.1% different
from the
origina, that copy would not be the continuation of the
original, despite thinking that he was, just a bit taller
and a
bit happier for the experience. On the other hand,
if one
copy
was 1% different and the other 0.1% different, the
0.1% copy
would be a continuation of the original. And if the
0.1% copy
was in a coma when created, the 1% copy would be the
continuer
until the 0.1% copy was revived.
How are you going to measure these fine differences? If
there
is a
tie according to any appreciable measurement, then
there are
two new
persons. Don't forget that the duplication is only
accurate
at the
level of replacement, which is never assumed to be
exact --
we cannot have exact copies because of the quantum cloning
restrictions. The odd difference in the number of atoms in
your big
toe is not a relevant difference.
It's easy to measure differences. One of the new JC's is
taller
and better looking. Naturally, he claims that he is the
true JC,
but improved.
What he claims is irrelevant. The copies diverge almost
instantaneously, so there are essentially always two new
persons in
these scenarios. If they are made to be different by the
machine,
then there is no duplication!
I diverge from my previous self from moment to moment in ordinary
life,
but I still consider that I remain me. If I woke up tomorrow taller
because I had a growth spurt during the night I would still
consider that
I was me; yet by the "closest continuer" theory, I would stop being
me if
a copy that hadn't grown was made somewhere else.
I think waking up somewhere else would count strongly against being
the
closest continuation.
What if, while both are asleep, the original is moved to another
location and
the copy moved to the original's bed?
That would help, but there's an implicit assumption that
asleep=mindless.
Anesthetic would make a better example. But won't both the original and
the
copy find himself in a disjoint location incompatible with where he was
before?
The copy will find himself in the bed he fell unconscious in, and the
original will
find himself moved. Both would feel they were a continuation of the
original, but
not knowing about the switch they might guess wrong as to which was which.
In what sense would they be wrong. They would have different memories and
be
different persons.
One would be the copy and the other would be the original, but there would be no way to
tell which was which without referring to a record of the procedure.
ISTM there's an equivocation here between a continuation in consciousness and continuation
in body. If we say "the person" is just a continuum of conscious thoughts, then they are
both continuations of the original. If we take into account the physical instantiation
then we can say which is the original (assuming he's not destroyed and reconstructed in
the duplication process) even though they are both continuations, by different means, of
the original.
Brent
Brent
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