[extropy-chat] I keep asking myself...

[A B]

Hi Ben,
   
  I'm just going to try to clarify for my own understanding. If one accepts that only the 'pattern' of information is necessary and sufficient for establishing identity, then if I made a perfect copy of myself, would I not expect a stream of experiences from both (or all) 'versions' simultaneously? If I made many copies, would I effectively become a hive-mind? But if your answer is yes, then how can this be so? Given that the human mind (as it is now) is incapable of *directly* accessing other minds. Would the bandwidth (direct mind access ability) of my own mind mysteriously double if make a single perfect copy of myself? It doesn't seem like it should - because that would seem to imply an instantaneous and significant alteration to the physical arrangement of my brain (which seems unlikely), but perhaps I'm wrong.
   
  Best Wishes,
   
  Jeffrey Herrlich (I'm going to change the A B thing one of these days)  

ben <benboc at lineone.net> wrote:
  From: A B :

> no one here seems to be addressing the basic rights of these 
> "copies". As a living, conscious being, I'm not sure it is ethically
> correct to force specific decisions and lifestyles on these "copies"
> as if they were simply toys - devoid of basic rights that an 
> "original" version would presumably have. To me it seems there is 
> little difference between the value of an "original" and a "copied" 
> being; once it is created, it has every right to do with itself 
> whatever *it* wishes (short of harming any other being).


Sure, i agree totally about the rights of other people, but we're not
talking about other people. I'm imagining a copy - an EXACT copy - of
me. In other words, it's me (in my view. I know there are those who
would disagree with this 'patternist' view).
So 'imposing' any kind of behaviour on such a copy is a non-issue, any 
more than imposing it on yourself would be. If you do force yourself to 
do anything, you have good reason (i hope!) to, and do it with your own 
full consent.
Granted, over time, these copies would inevitable diverge, and that's 
something to be considered. But personally, i wouldn't be averse to 
imposing some kind of mental constraint on myself in order to attain 
some pre-decided goal (such as sending a copy of myself to Pluto and 
back, then merging with my stay-at-home version), and be pretty much 
guaranteed that we would still want to merge. I would certainly not be 
pleased if some authority tried to tell me that i wasn't allowed to put 
those kind of constraints on myself.

ben
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