[ExI] Next moment, everything around you will probably change

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 22/06/07, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> > You can be mistaken about a matter of fact or of logic, but
> > you can't be mistaken about the way you feel.
>
> Right.  But we all often lament, "darn it, I feel X about Y
> even though that isn't rational or I don't want to, and I wish
> that I could stop", or even, "I feel X about Y, and know
> that it's illogical, but it's too much fun to stop, or I have
> inner needs that require me to---I must!---continute to feel X".

People might change things such as their desire to smoke if they
could, but changing the normal feelings about personal identity might
be too much like tampering with the desire to survive, or with the
meaning of survival. For example, you could make yourself believe that
after your death, you survive if the rest of humanity survives; you
can't anticipate this posthumous future in the same way you anticipate
waking up tomorrow, but then neither can you anticipate having the
experiences of your recently-differentiated copy in the room next
door. The reason having someone with my memories waking up in my bed
tomorrow is important to me is in large part because I am able to
anticipate "becoming" that person as a result. If I can be rid of this
feeling, then I would also be rid of my fear of death, apart from
altruistic concerns about the effect my death would have on others.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou