[extropy-chat] What should survive and why?

[Heartland]

Lee:
>>> Well, not John Clark, IIRC, would go to the extreme that
>>> I, Robin Hanson, and many others would, namely, an
>>> instance of us would choose vaporization so that a recent
>>> duplicate frozen in the next room would get $10M, and
>>> we would be making that choice for *entirely* selfish
>>> reasons.

Heartland:
>> Frankly, that scares me, Lee. Please do not get offended by the analogy I'm
>> about
>> to make but I can't help but think that if we replace "$10M" with "opportunity
>> to
>> board alien spaceship hiding behind Hale-Bopp comet" the choice you would make,
>> it
>> seems to me, would be equally unwise as the choice made by 39 members of
>> Heaven's
>> Gate a decade ago.

Lee:
> A major difference is that there *was* no such alien spaceship :-)
> whereas there really are negotiable $10M checks!


Ah yes, the checks will be there, alright. It's just that it's going to be awfully
hard to cash them in the netherworld. :)


Heartland:
>> If you believe that preservation of memories = survival, and memories are
>> nothing
>> but strings, why shouldn't you be interested in how a string varies from moment
>> to
>> moment? How can you expect to know how to survive if you're not interested in
>> conditions necessary for survival?

Lee:
> I *am* interested in how "my string" varies, even varies from moment to moment.
> Assuming that "my string" is just a digital readout of my state, that is.  So
> long as
> it remains 99.99999999999% the same from moment to moment, that's okay.
> And even if it's only 99.99999% the same---in case I am disintegrated and a
> copy you made of me yesterday is teleported to my present location---that's
> still fine (provided that there is something in it for us Lee Corbins, e.g. a
> nice fat
> check---because I will not lose memories for nothing).


What if the strings were 98% the same from moment to moment? Please explain why
99.99999999999% would be okay and 52% or 1% would not be okay. Where's the dividing
line (give me a percentage) between "okay" and "not okay?" Also, quantify the time
interval between moments. Should we compare two strings every nanosecond,
microsecond, second, minute, hour or perhaps a week to make it more practical and
less annoying? Please justify all your choices.


Heartland:
>> What I would like to learn from you, above all else, is why you think memories
>> should matter so much? There are so many other things you could be focused on
>> preserving into the future. Why memories, let alone your memories?

Lee's answer:
> Some simple thought experiments may suffice for an answer.  Let's suppose that
> tomorrow morning you woke up with *my* memories and I woke up with *yours*.
> (An alien trickster who knows an incredible amount about how brains work has
> been very busy with his nanotechnological devices.)  What would happen?


Ha, I think I've heard this tune before. :) I vow to be more thorough in my
investigation this time.

Lee:
> Here is what would happen.  A being (whose identity
> I am not going to beg yet) awakes in Santa Clara California and says to himself
> "What the hell am I doing here?  I remember going to bed last night.  I am
> Slawomir, because I remember being him yesterday, but now it seems I have
> a new body".  This is *exactly* what he would say when questioned by the
> authorities.  In an exactly similar way, the story would be repeated where you
> live:  I would wake up in your body and be wont to say things like "what the
> hell happened?  Where am I?  Whose body and whose house is this??".

This is how it would go down, yes.

Lee:
> When we talked on the phone, we would agree that we had exchanged *bodies*
> not memories. The creature in Santa Clara California would want the old Slawomir
> body back (I assure you), and rightfully consider it *his* body!
>
> Clear enough?

Not yet.

Lee:
> Don't you agree that it is our memories that determine who
> we think we are (and, I go on to claim, who we in fact are).

Yes. (surprised?)
But if I prefer "memory content" instead of "memories" as a determinant of who we
are because "memory content" or just "memory" implies also skills, beliefs, and
patterns of perception, not just recollections of past events.

At this point you still have not answered the question I was really asking so let
me ask it again using different words:

Why do you think preserving *who we are* matters? There are so many other things 
you could be focused on
preserving into the future so why it is most important to preserve who we are, let 
alone who *you* are?

H.