[ExI] any exact copy of you is you + universe is infinite = you are guaranteed immortality

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 17/06/07, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience at pobox.com> wrote:

No, that is not what I was attempting to say.  (Several people made
> this misinterpretation, but it should be obvious that I don't believe
> in telepathy or any other nonstandard causal interaction between
> separated copies.)  Having lots of copies in some futures may or may
> not affect the apparent probability of ending up in those futures.
> Does it?  In which future will you (almost certainly) find yourself?
>
> This is what I meant by "What does it feel like" - the most basic
> question of all science - what appears to you to happen, what sensory
> information do you receive, when you run the experiment?  All our
> other models of the universe are constructed from this.  I do not
> exult in this state of affairs, and I think it reflects a lack of
> understanding in my mind more than anything fundamental in reality
> itself - that is, I don't think sensory information really is
> primitive, or anything like that - but for the present it is the only
> way I can figure out how to describe rational reasoning.
>
> By "what does it feel like" I meant the most basic question of all
> science - what appears to happen when you run the experiment?  Do you
> feel that you've repeatedly won the lottery, or never won at all?
> Standing outside, I can say with certitude, "so many copies experience
> winning the lottery, and then merge; all other observers just see you
> losing the lottery".  And this sounds like a complete objective
> statement of what the universe is like.  But what do you experience?
> Does setting up this experiment make you win the lottery?  After you
> run the experiment, you'll know for yourself how reality works -
> you'll either have experienced winning the lottery several times in a
> row, or not - but no outside observers will know, so what could you
> have seen that they didn't?  What causal force touched you and not them?
>

This is exactly the point missed by those who would point to the uncontested
third person describable facts and say, "Paradox? What paradox?".


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou
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