X-Message-Number: 20984
From: 
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:04:49 EST
Subject: binding space & time

--part1_65.82fdc8d.2b669681_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

A very brief introduction to an approach toward reconciliation of intuition 
and a rigorous philosophy of personal identity or criteria of survival:

First, I postulate that "you" are a physical system with spatial and temporal 
extent.

A physical system could hardly exist at a geometrical point in space, if 
there is any such thing, so it must have spatial extent. It must bind space. 
The important parts and functions of your brain occupy a non-zero volume.

Likewise, a system could hardly live at an instant of time, if there is such 
a thing. For subjective experience it seems necessary to have change and the 
passage of time. You must bind time. Any feeling or experience probably 
requires non-zero time. This notion is reinforced by the fact that feelings 
involve signals inside the brain, which require time between initiating and 
acquiring and interpreting.

This means that you identify in greater degree with your nearer continuers, 
both because they are more like your present self and because you have a 
clearer idea of what their interests or values will be. There is overlap all 
along the line, with greater overlap for nearer continuers. This fits nicely 
with the intuition of most people, as biology and evolution have shaped them.

Of course, nothing is yet proven. Among other questions, we are still mostly 
in the dark regarding the basics of both space and time--objective time and 
subjective time. Still, the view above seems pretty plausible to me. 

Robert Ettinger

--part1_65.82fdc8d.2b669681_boundary

 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20984