X-Message-Number: 14777
From: 
Subject: Re: Copy Chaos
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 16:20:40 +1000

This discussion about identity and copies seems to me to be going into
unnecessary depth. Perhaps I am missing the point somehow.

If an identical copy of me is made, I still retain my identity, the copy
has an identity that it feels pretty much the same as I do ie. it wants to
live and go on living (a basic primitive genetic preservation mechanism).
Nothing has been taken away from me as the original, I am not any more
happy to die. The knowledge that a copy of me will continue to exist in
another body doesn't deminish my will to go on living - the chemical makeup
of my body still drives me to try to stay alive - any decision to die for
the sake of the copy has to overcome this and has to be based of
rationalised logic - not the easiest thing to overcome.

I don't see any need for standing waves or anything exotic, I just want to
carry on living same as my copy. Yes my copy could continue for me but it
does not take away from me as the original the desire to live - nothing
wrong in that! If there is 2 copies made of me, why would the first copy be
any more willing to die than the second or me the original for that matter.
This is why uploading to a computer is not really ok for me as it doesn't
change my original state - my memories and personality may be in the
computer but I still exist and still have the desire to go on living.

It seems to me that my sense of self comes from a complex circuit in my
brain that has a mechanism that attempts to preserve itself and therefore
to preserve the physical me. How this circuit works and its exact
characteristics may be unknown to us but it does not make it any less real.
I don't see any justification as to why some strange force must be at work.
This leans toward religeous which doesn't work on fact or practicallity -
just abstract concepts which is too much of a cop out to me.

Chris


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