X-Message-Number: 14710
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:10:02 -0700
From: Lee Corbin <>
Subject: Natasha's Answer

>Natasha Vita-More wrote, in Message #14696,
>>If you choose to shoot the duplicate, either you do
>>not believe the duplicate is you, or you are not sure.
>
>The cornerstone would be that I don't want to kill another person. 

Hi Natasha!  You're absolutely right.  It will repay all of us
in the long run, to nourish as much as we possibly can our
regard for others (including ourselves).

The somewhat gentler version of this puzzle that I always bring
up is, whether you would choose the disintegration of your frozen
duplicate or the disintegration of yourself, if those were the only
choices available and --- choosing your duplicate results in he
or she (that is, you) getting some big reward, like a lot of money.

I would empathize a lot, however, if you would still refuse to
entertain this stark choice.  Proper philosophy is about prescription
for action.  Indeed, the right action probably would be to reject
this choice.  (Of course, Dave and I put these questions forward
only to help investigate a conceptual question.)

But let me illustrate the moral concern that you have raised
with another story:

Suppose that in some awful future, the last truck leaving Phoenix
has room for only four dewars.  But there still remain five frozen
patients who need rescue.  Who should be left behind?  The most
recently signed up?  The eldest?  The youngest?

The correct answer to this question, is, WE WILL FIND A WAY TO
TAKE ALL FIVE.  PERIOD.

(In the same way, I would find a way to keep as many instantiations
of myself alive as I could.)

Lee

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