--- On Tue, 2/10/09, Brent Meeker <meeke...@dslextreme.com> wrote:
> >>> 2) If the data saved to the disk is only based on A1> (e.g. discarding
> >>> any errors that A2 might have made) then one could say that A1 is the
> >>> same person as B, while A2 is not. This is causal differentiation.
> >>
> >> Yes, but I'm assuming A1 and A2 have identical content.
> >
> > That actually doesn't matter - causation is
> defined in terms of counterfactuals. If - then, considering
> what happens at that moment of saving the data. If x=1 and
> y=1, and I copy the contents of x to z, that is not the same
> causal relationship as if I had copied y to z.
>
> Isn't that making the causal chain essential to the experience; contrary to
> the idea that the "stream of consciousness" is just the computation? The
> causal chain is not part of the computation, A1 and A2 could be implemented
> by different physics and hence different causation.
--- On Tue, 2/10/09, russell standish <li...@hpcoders.com.au> wrote:
> But surely the counterfactuals are the same in each case too? In which case
> it is the same causal relationship. We're talking computations here, each
> computation will respond identically to the same counterfactual input.
I believe you both are taking what I wrote out of context. Sorry if I was not
clear.
In the above I was talking about the moment at which the data is saved, from
either A1 or A2, when making the transition to B in the thought experiment.
BTW, causation (sensitivity to counterfactuals) is part of the criteria for an
implementation of a computation. So in that sense causation is essential to
the experience.
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