On Thu, 27 Jul 2017 at 2:52 am, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 2:16 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> > wrote: > > >> >> If you were to use a teleporter at A that you knew would destroy the >> original and make a single copy at B, from what you have said you would be >> confident predicting (as the original) that you would end up at B. >> > > Yes I'd make that prediction, and this time the personal pronoun "you" > causes no trouble because in this example at any one time their is only one > John Clark so the referent of the pronoun is always clear. > > >> > >> You could then bet where you would end up. >> >> The deal is that you pay $10 for a ticket at A, write on the ticket "I >> will be duplicated at B", and if the ticket of the copy emerging at B says >> "I will be duplicated at B", >> >> > > B has already been duplicated, so why would B say "I will be"? > > Tenses are important in bets like this. And Mr. B will not feel like a > copy, Mr. B will feel every bit as original as the original. So John Clark > would accept the bet at city A that the person at city B will say "I am > John Clark and I am in city B". And as there was only one copy made and the > original destroyed there is nobody else who can say > "I am John Clark and I am in city B" > so it would be clear who gets the prize money. > > >> > >> if you were told that *two* copies would be made at B, >> >> you would not make the bet, >> > > That is true, John Clark would just walk away from that deal because > personal pronouns would almost certainly be included in the terms (people > on this list just can't stop themselves from using them) so it would't be a > bet at all, it will be gibberish. > > And courts don't enforce gibberish business documents, not even with a > high priced lawyer, so nobody would win any money. > The circumstances under which the money is won are unequivocal, all you have to do is as the original pay $10 and write a particular thing on the ticket. The point is you seem to be saying that with 1->1 duplication you would be satisfied that you survive, but if an additional copy is made you would not. You probably feel that you have survived as the same person from yesterday, but if you (the version reading this) discover that you were surreptitiously duplicated, it would mean that yesterday's version of you had in fact died. So you can't really be sure today that you have survived from yesterday, since there may be other copies of you somewhere in the universe. > -- Stathis Papaioannou -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
