[extropy-chat] Identity (was: Survival tangent)

[Russell Wallace]

On 11/7/06, John K Clark <jonkc at att.net> wrote:
>
> So what process is your identical copy that thinks it's you missing? No
> need
> to answer I already know, it's missing certain sacred atoms.
>

In fairness, John, while I agree with you that the patternist view is true
[1], there's more to the threadist view than you're seeing. It's not about
the atoms, or a supernatural soul. It's about unbroken continuity of thought
process.

And the rationale, as far as I can see, is that it's the closest match to
the usual/intuitive meaning of "identity". And it's a fair attempt at that,
I just don't subscribe to it because I think like with the whole "why don't
we feel motion when the Earth goes around the Sun" thing, intuition isn't
the right tool here in philosophical principle even though it is for
practical purposes. But I don't think the threadists are being hopelessly
irrational, I just disagree with them.

I've had a friendly conversation with a threadist, where we both agreed the
following:

1) He admitted his philosophy maybe meant he died each night when he went to
sleep. In practice he simply ignores this for obvious reasons, but he admits
the logic.

2) He wants gradual rather than destructive-scan uploading, and if it's ever
in my power to provide it for him I will.
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