[ExI] [extropy-chat] How to be copied into the future?

[Lee Corbin]

John writes

> Stathis:
>>> If I-now think I've survived as a continuation of I-before,  then that's
>>> what matters in survival.
> 
> Heartland, High Priest of the Unique Atom and Sacred Original Cult Wrote:
> 
> > That doesn't matter at all.
> 
> No, what matters to you is not continuity of process but continuity of
> atoms;

I still don't understand why you persist in making this claim. Would
not Heartland instantly agree that each second he loses and gains
billions of atoms?  Why, for all we know, he'd be perfectly happy
to have a heart bypass operation, and lose quadrillions upon 
quadrillions of his atoms.  Moreover, it would not surprise me in
the least if he'd quickly sign up for hippocampus replacement, 
if it guaranteed a wonderful memory enhancement. (Now of course,
his guarantees would be more stringent than yours and mine; he
might insist upon being conscious throughout the operation, for
instance.)  BUT  ISN'T  IT  PATENTLY  WRONG  TO  KEEP
ON  SAYING  THAT  FOR  HIM  IT'S  ALL  ABOUT  ATOMS??

> and what matters to you is objective temporal continuity, subjective
> continuity doesn't matter at all to subjective experience (!), at least
> according to you.
> 
>> Why should it matter?
> 
> Because subjectivity is the most important thing in the universe.
> 
> > Of course it's subjective so it's not valid evidence at all.
> 
> That pretty much sums up the absurdity of your position, the idea that I
> need objective proof in order for me to believe I am having a subject
> experience.

Here I have to agree with Heartland a little more than I agree with
you:  Yes, you have to believe in your subjective experience as real,
and indeed, the most real thing that there is. But you may be 
simply mistaken about the way that things *seem* to you subjectively.
It may be that you are *not* the same John Clark as the world knew
yesterday.  You're clever enough that I don't need to spell that out
in a thought experiment.

So subjectivity---just as he says---is a quite *useless* social concept,
quite useless to throw around in intelligent discussion with other people
who have no access to your subjectivity.  Hell, for all I know, John
Clark may be a Giant Lookup Table and not be conscious at all!  I
am the only thing in the universe that I know for sure is conscious, 
although it would be stupid to bet against other people being so.

> The feeling of being alive is a subjective experience and I don't
> need your precious space time trajectories of my individual atoms to prove
> to me that I feel alive any more than I need proof that the sensation I feel
> when I put my hand in a fire I find unpleasant. Direct experience outranks
> even the Scientific Method.

Who, besides you, gives a ---- about your subjective experience?

Lee