[extropy-chat] Avoid Too Much Change

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 4/9/07, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

For me, it's the end state
> that counts, not the amount of time it took to get there. Let X be an
> entity that has utterly nothing in common with one.  Then a lot of people
> don't mind evolving into X provided it's done slowly enough, because
> they believe as they step-by-step turn into someone else, their "essence"
> is somehow retained.  I guess.  I guess that's what they must
> believe, in some form or other.
>
> Even if I finally reveal that X is, say, Max More, they don't seem to
> think
> of this as especially identity threatening.  But if that happened to them,
> I claim, then they'd be dead and there would simply be more Max
> Mores. What possible difference does it make whether the transformation
> was fast or slow?


But you probably have a lot more in common with Max More than you do with
your infant self. This example is one more reason why there is no "truth of
the matter" about continuity of personal identity from moment to moment.
Like free will, it's an illusion which is very important to maintain,
otherwise we will be unhappy. Unlike those characters in films like "The
Matrix" who complain that it's not real, I don't care as long as it feels
real.

Stathis Papaioannou
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