X-Message-Number: 22288
From: "Jappie Hoekstra" <>
Subject: CryoNet #22280 - #22284
Date: Saturday, 02 Aug 2003 16:33:00 +100

 Hey,

 [*] 02 Aug 03 09:00, quoting Mike Perry (#22284):

 C> My natural reaction, if actually confronted with a human-seeming robot,
 C> would be to grant it the benefit of doubt instead. Unless I was aware
 C> of a compelling argument that it could not be a person, I would accept
 C> it as one. By implication, then, I would be affirming a conviction that
 C> emotions are indeed computational in nature (since quantum mechanics,
 C> the substrate level of the simulation, is itself simulable
 C> computationally). This I would take as a working hypothesis, not a
 C> dogma, but something I would not reject unless forced by the evidence.

Which would be a very natural approach. Let's consider teleportation as an
example of something that most would consider possible in the future. This
technique would probably rely on the disassembly and transportation on
atom-level of a person. Let's say these atoms would travel through a long tube
specifically crafted for that purpose, transporting atoms. A person is
disassembled on one end and identically reassembled at the other. Who would in
reality question whether this person is not the same person anymore? The
original person was completely moved, so probably noone would start complaining
this person is not the original.

Now let's say the technique was changed somewhat, so that atoms aren't
transported through atom-tubes, but 100% correct structural information about
these atoms is sent through copper phonelines and new atoms are built from
this information on the endpoint. Let's say the original atoms are destroyed in
the process. So the end-result is completely the same as in the previous
example - The person was "transferred", the body that came out of this process
is identical to the one transferred in the previous situation. In this
situation you would get many people complaining this cannot be the same person.
It's a clone - all particles have been copied/refabricated. Yet still the
majority would say this is *the* actual person.

Now let's consider technique #3 in which the original atoms are not destroyed
in the process .. So the person is simply copied. Yet the body and mind at the
endpoint are the exact same as the one in the previous situation.. In that
respect nothing changed. Still *noone* would accept that new person as the
actual person.

So for the world in general, it will depend on the technique used whether
teleportation ever becomes a success. For the sake of acceptance, it would be
best if the technique was flawed, so that the original was destroyed. If there
would be proof that the transferred person actually is someone else after the
transfer, then teleportation can never be achieved through nanotechnology. I
consider it likely that teleportation will one day be achieved through
nanotechnology and kept in use for a while, simply because it allows us to
travel at the speed of light. In that case the entire world is subject to
becoming different people just from travelling.. :)

But frankly, you're also a different person when getting off the bus, when you
reference it to the point where you stepped on.

--
 Jappie Hoekstra

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