[extropy-chat] Probability of identity, or "Am I missing your point entirely?"

[Russell Wallace]

On 10/11/06, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:

> It seems like you're imagining some kind of Self that can be spread out
> over multiple instances.  To me it seems almost a problem of semantics, but
> reflecting a misconception of reality:  A point of view is a result of the
> processes producing it, not something that observes the show from some
> privileged position.  Or am I missing your point entirely? ;-)
>

Or I'm missing yours, or we're both missing each other's :) Let's see if I
can try and get a handle on yours...

You seem to be saying that the self is an illusion, that one can say e.g.
about seeing the sun rise tomorrow that infinitely many people will,
infinitely many people won't, and the ratio is (some large number):1, but
any statement that "_I_ will see the sun rise tomorrow" is meaningless
verbiage, or at best a metaphor for an imperfect picture of objective
reality. That my paradox only looks like a paradox because I'm stressing the
flimsy word "self" beyond its limits, and where it seems to generate a
contradiction between the objective and subjective viewpoints, the
subjective one is an illusion that should be ignored. Is that a correct
paraphrase of your position?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20061011/eca6a452/attachment.html>