A view on cryonics (was Re: [extropy-chat] Bad Forecasts!)

[s. p.]

>Who cares. Which is the original, the 10 year old Brett Paatsch, the 10
>month old Brett Paatsch or the one day old zygote Brett Paatsch?

I hope you don't mind if I answer this.

Brett at 10 years old is the same at 20 because his mind process never 
degenerated into, one, non-mind process, two, a mind process that is not 
Brett's process. He is the same because his mind process has been carving 
out the same, uninterupted line of three-dimensional chunks in space-time. 
That's why he has maintained his originality throughout his life. 
Memories/experiences aqcuired throughout person's life do not define 
identity. They do define his personality and psychological make-up, not his 
identity.


And is
>there any way to prove that you are not a copy of the original

Yes, there is. Identity is defined by the uniqueness of mind process in 
space-time. There's room for only one mind process in the fabric of space 
time. Even a perfect clone will always maintain different trajectory from 
the original.

(whatever
>that means) and is there any reason to care if you were?

If you value living then you should care because if the original you gets 
killed, the film ends, and you won't live, even though your clones might. 
Your personality will exist, but your subjective experience will register 
the same input as when you were unborn. Forever.

Slawomir

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