[extropy-chat] Meta re recurring threads was Personal Identity Bis

[Keith Henson]

At 11:19 AM 4/15/2007 +1000, you wrote:


>On 4/15/07, Keith Henson <<mailto:hkhenson at rogers.com>hkhenson at rogers.com> 
>wrote:
>
>>Materialists, i.e., engineering types, for the most part agree with you
>>that an identical copy of a person (or a computer) is equivalent and for
>>the most part can't imagine why anyone would have a different opinion.
>
>You probably feel that way after these many long discussions.

It didn't take these long discussions.  I have no memory of any time in the 
past I had a different opinion, and my writings for the last two decades 
are consistent with that view.  For example:

http://www.alcor.org/cryonics/cryonics8610.txt starting at page 29.

>If you ask someone at random who has a scientific view of the world, it is 
>not a foregone conclusion that he will agree. Perhaps that's unfortunate, 
>but it's the way it is.

Few people with any experience expect uniformity in ideas between 
people.  I am sure there are people out there who expect we could find an 
element between carbon and nitrogen (or a whole number between 6 and 7) if 
we just looked hard enough.  I can't imagine why someone would have such an 
opinion, but I am not surprised to find such people.  After all, number of 
my friends used to think their spirits were brought to earth 75 million 
years ago by Xenu.

Keith Henson