X-Message-Number: 16105
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 02:54:25 -0700
From: Lee Corbin <>
Subject: Re: The Identity Issue ... Again

Scott Badger writes

> Since I can't figure out how we'll ever resolve this
> issue, it seems to boil down to this kind of personal
> algorithm [weighted averages of cost/benefit]

Suppose that we actually had teleporters and matter duplicators
as has been envisioned in SF, and that every time you teleport,
there is a two-minute delay between the arrival of the duplicate
at the remote station, and the disintegration of the original at
the local station, and that moreover, they were in two-way
television contact during the two minutes.  People would balk
at first, but after a few trips (where they just HAD to go to
New York quickly), they'd adapt.  Soon, only the old grandparents
would still have reservations, and if all your friends were going
to the Moon for a party, you'd feel ridiculous holding back because
of some 20th century philosophical prejudice.

John Clark writes,

>> Suppose that you are taken into the next room where a
>> frozen duplicate of you, made five minutes ago [...]

> Five minutes! That's an eon! Talk to me when you get it down
> to five milliseconds.

My question for John is, how much do you have to be paid to try
a sleeping pill containing midazolam?  Such pills were once, and
perhaps still are available in Great Britain, according to Derek
Parfit in "Reasons and Persons".  The idea is, if you take one at
11:00 and retire at 12:00, then you won't remember anything of
what you did or said between 11:30 and 12:00.

Here's what would happen.  At 11:59 you'd say, "Gee, this
is weird: I'm not going to remember anything of the last
half hour.  It's as if my memories are to be erased."

Well, if you don't mind that, say for one million dollars, then
for a lot of money would you accede to having your last five
minutes of memory erased?  How is this different from the 
duplicate getting the briefcase?

Lee

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