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

[Lee Corbin]

John writes


> "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com>
> 
>> So if it's true that there is an extremely similar
>> (only a trillion or so atoms different with slightly
>> different pattern) copy of you running on a planet
>> of Alpha Centauri, it's okay if it or you die?
> 
> An exact duplicate of the earth, and it's entire ecosystem, is created a
> billion light years away. The duplicate world would need some sort of
> feedback mechanism to keep the worlds in synchronization,

No!  I'm talking about a complete accident (cf. "Luckiest Man in
the Universe" by Max More).  For my purposes they do *not*
need to be kept in synch (and how could they be, as you say?)

It just so happens that at *this* moment, the John Clark there
and the John Clark here differ by only a few trillion atoms.
Like you and the you of half an hour ago.

> 2) I find out that for the first time since the Big Bang the worlds will
> diverge, in 10 seconds you will put a bullet in my head but my double will
> be spared. Am I concerned? Yes, and angry as well, in times of intense
> stress nobody is very logical.

I admitted the same a few days ago about a Bengal Tiger jumping
into my room.

> My double is no longer exact because I am going through a traumatic
> experience and my double is not. I'd be looking at that huge gun

Oh, let's please revert to just the abstract knowledge that one of you
is to be disintegrated instantly.

> My (semi) double would be thinking "it's a shame about that other fellow but
> I'm glad it's not me".

He shouldn't think that.  He should say instead, "It's a pity that my
runtime has just been halved. (I'm not even sure yet that I'm the
one on Earth or the one near Alpha Centauri.)".  It *was* you.
It was just "you" at a different place, but an exceedingly *similar*
you. It's a red-herring, really, to discuss absolutely "exact" duplicates.

Lee