X-Message-Number: 11169
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 20:44:27 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #11159

Thomas Donaldson has an interesting discussion about the possible problems
you would have if injected into a world that already contained your double.
Of course, from that point, you two would diverge as individuals, but still
for a long time you'd be more alike, I'd think, than identical twins. And it
would pose a problem for you if your double was the one who was already
here, with a job, property, etc. You'd be something of a "nobody." To me
though, it would be far from all bad; my double's friends would (probably)
be my friends too. Presumably too, others would recognize the sort of
problem that existed, and be sympathetic. I see lots of possibilities, and
I'd certainly prefer living to dying.The issue of marriage was raised
(though it happens that it wouldn't apply to me, a "single"). This might
pose a special problem. "If a person could be duplicated, then so could a
house or even a spouse," is what I say in my book, also addressing the issue
of property. Then I add, "But the world of the future will be different in
many ways, and I think these problems too will not be among the hardest."
Actually, I don't think there will be much incentive to create duplicate
people, except perhaps in a VR environment in a more distant future, when we
should be advanced and wise enough to sidestep the more obvious problems.

Mike Perry

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