X-Message-Number: 16126 Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 22:00:08 -0700 From: Lee Corbin <> Subject: Re: Space and Time and Identity Andrew Davidson writes >Scenario: You wake from suspension and a white-coated doctor welcomes >you back and says that they'd like to perform some tests to make sure >that all is well. You naturally agree and he asks you a series of >questions - "How do you feel?", "What's your favourite colour?", "What >is your first memory?" and so forth. >The doctor starts to frown as the test progresses and eventually says, >"I'm sorry Mr Smith but the revival has not been a complete success. >We haven't recovered your personality to the specified tolerance and >so we're going to have to try again. Excuse us, we'll have to >deactivate you now." >As he reaches for a red button, you exclaim, "Wait a minute! I feel >ok - what about _me_? And shouldn't you have worked all this out in >advance before you revived me?" Well, there are two possible cases. In the first, you don't resemble the original very much at all. (They really messed up, and left out a whole lot, or interspersed a lot of spurious memories, to the extent that you are an entirely different person.) Then you have to beg: "Doctor, I will be your personal slave for years and years, and do everything that I can do to reward you for the consideration of letting me live as a separate person. Just because I never existed, why shouldn't I also get a chance at life? Can't we somehow make a copy and we can try getting the original back a little later on?" Your plea has merit, and I for one think that as many people as possible have to be rescued from non-existence. In the second case, you closely resemble the original, it's just that quite a bit is missing. It's a lot like suddenly noticing, as you are reading this, that all your high school memories aren't accessible. Well, not to worry. You can anticipate waking up properly in a while after the doctor has made the corrections. >My conclusion is that, as with current surgery, it's best if you are >not conscious when the doctors are rearranging your innards/identity - >being awake during the process is bound to be painful. But what if, >like certain types of brain surgery, the process demands that you be >conscious...? Doesn't sound like a hard problem to me. How much do you want to live? Lee Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16126