[extropy-chat] Detectives and red herrings (was Survivaltangent)

[Mike Dougherty]

On 11/10/06, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
>
> If you and I gradually over the years slowly become more and more
> advanced, but somehow we both manage to remember Lee Corbin's
> childhood, teenage years, fascination with chess, the close game with
> David Bronstein in a simul, the years writing under the name "Lee
> Corbin" on the Fabric of Reality list, and so on and on, then you are
> dead, and there are *two* Lee Corbins.  Surely, if you value your
> survival, you do not want this to happen.  Keep your own memories,
> stay alive!
>

I think I understand your position (considering how frequently it has been
restated)

Suppose you have keepsakes from each of the vacations you have been on
(refrigerator magnets, shot glasses, marginally evil tiki dolls, primitive
masks, pottery, etc. etc.)  These are all physical tokens which cue your
memory of those events.  Their placement around your home (general
definition of home; the space you inhabit, whatever) gives some clue to an
observer the relative priority of each of these tokens.  I imagine some of
those treasures end up in a box at the back of the garage.  At that point,
the memory-triggering value of that item has been decreased to almost zero.
Suppose I have a garage sale without your consent and clean out the
clutter.  Have I "killed" some part of you?  Of course you might be able to
recall the memories without the physical tokens, but if you have been
uploaded and the garage I have cleaned out is an failing old RAID - then you
might be arguing that I have in fact destroyed some of your identity,
correct?
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