[ExI] Continuity of experience

[ablainey at aol.com]

 Yes they could be rejoined at a later date, to consolidate experiences back into a single body M. As per the leg.
This also throws up the question what if two uploads join to give an M^2. Then what if all humans/posthumans 
become mentally joined as a hive mind? giving M^nth.
This is where it gets really interesting and the argument of M starts to become irrelevant.

For me as long as there is a continuous conscious stream, the issues of who is the real identity are moot.

It makes me wonder if we would have more respect for an entity that we know is directly related or part of
our own M, or if we would see it as a sub component and therefor of less value than a true individual?


I agree that In a way yes we all share a single M. Either seen as from a common ancestor, although this is 
a genetic M not a conscious self. Or as you said if we influence someone else's life, we share part of M with
them. A kind of vicarious M where the experience and knowledge of others is assimilated into our own M. 


 

 A


-----Original Message-----
From: Spencer Campbell <lacertilian at gmail.com>


<ablainey at aol.com>:
[snip]
> Just as with a single body your brain lobes are very different but still
> part of the whole M.
> I see this as comparable to cutting off your own leg, posting it to
> somewhere sunny so it can get a nice tan
> and then sewing it back on. It is still your leg and part of you, but its
> life has been different.

Hmm!

There's only one problem that I can see: in your hypothetical, as in
mine, the two copies of me are never re-attached in the manner of a
suntanned leg. You can certainly make the argument that they retain a
"connection" of some type, even if they only speak to each other once
a century.

They can be considered two parts of the same M-possessing whole, that
way, but you can make exactly the same argument for any pair of
individuals whatsoever as long as their lives detectably influence
each other at least once. Who's to say that not everyone shares the
same M?

On the other hand, what happens if the doubles DO rejoin into one
individual later on? Well, then we have a Dr. McNinja scenario!

http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/17p19

(That's page 19. There is a bunch of other magnificent nonsense earlier on.)




 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20100223/5268db4a/attachment.html>