On 4/08/2016 6:00 pm, Bruce Kellett wrote:
On 4/08/2016 5:52 pm, Russell Standish wrote:
On Wed, Aug 03, 2016 at 04:27:21PM +1000, Bruce Kellett wrote:
On 3/08/2016 12:01 pm, Russell Standish wrote:
However, we are being asked to consider two conscious states where the
conscious state differs by at least one bit - the W/M bit. Clearly,
by the YD
assumption, both states are survivor states from the original
conscious state, but are not the same consciousness because of the
single bit difference.
By that reasoning, no consciousness survives through time.
Not at all! Both conscious states survive through time by assumption
(YD).
Methinks you are unnecessarily assuming transitivity again.
No, I was just referring to the continuation of a single consciousness
through time. We get different input data all the time but we do not
differentiate according to that data.
I could perhaps expand on that response. On duplication, two identical
consciousnesses are created, and by the identity of indiscernibles, they
form just a single consciousness. Then data is input. It seems to me
that there is no reason why this should lead the initial consciousness
to differentiate, or split into two. In normal life we get inputs from
many sources simultaneously -- we see complex scenes, smell the air,
feel impacts on our body, and hear many sounds from the environment.
None of this leads our consciousness to disintegrate. Indeed, our
evolutionary experience has made us adept at coping with these
multifarious inputs and sorting through them very efficiently to
concentrate on what is most important, while keeping other inputs at an
appropriate level in our minds.
I have previously mentioned our ability to multitask in complex ways:
while I am driving my car, I am aware of the car, the road, other
traffic and so on; while, at the same time, I can be talking to my wife;
thinking about what to cook for dinner; and reflecting on philosophical
issues that are important to me. And this is by no means an exhaustive
list of our ability to multitask -- to run many separate conscious
modules within the one unified consciousness.
Given that this experience is common to us all, it is not in the least
bit difficult to think that the adding of yet another stream of inputs
via a separate body will not change the basic structure of our
consciousness -- we will just take this additional data and process in
the way we already process multiple data inputs and streams of
consciousness. This would seem, indeed, to be the default understanding
of the consequences of person duplication. One would have to add some
further constraints in order for it to be clear that the separate bodies
would necessarily have differentiated conscious streams. No such
additional constraints are currently in evidence.
Bruce
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