[ExI] mind body dualism.

Stefano Vaj stefano.vaj at gmail.com
Sat Jul 17 12:09:44 UTC 2010


2010/7/11 John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net>

> On Jul 11, 2010, at 5:16 AM, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> Let us take again teleport. Imagine a teleline employee telling you. "Sir,
> I am pleased to inform
>
> you that your details have been correctly received by our Vancouver station
> and you are in the process of being reconstituted right now.
>
>
> My question would be: When you say "your details have been correctly
> received" does that include the details about what you're saying to me right
> now?
>
> Now, let us proceed to the destruction phase of the process".
> I would be the first to scream and run.
>
>
> I'd be running and screaming before you if the answer was "no". It's just a
> little quirk of mine, I don't like having a last thought and I dislike
> knowing this is my last thought even more.
>

The real ground behind such impulse is that "survival istinct" is a
Darwinian artifact. We can assume that as little as our genes may know about
such processes, their whisper would incline towards the behaviour that in
ordinary circumstances would leave more copies thereof around. Accordingly,
"destruction" in the framework of teleport would not make any difference to
them, and thus to you subjectively, post-teleport destruction would be
perceived as a pointless waste of chances.

I wouldn't care in the slightest but for some reason most on this list
> would, but only if you told them it was happening because otherwise they
> would have no way of knowing it had even occurred. In fact just telling them
> would not be enough because nobody would believe it, you'd have to provide
> ironclad proof and then they'd get upset thinking they were dead or some
> such nonsense.
>

Absolutely, this is what I mean by saying that there is no practical
difference from moving your body from point A to B through a number of
intermediate position or to have an identical enough body reconstituded in
point B. OTOH, there are no real philosophical reasons to adhere to the
metaphor of "movement" rather than that of "destruction" (which generates
istinctive refusal). The reasons would be simply practical, that is, those
sharing such view would simply go culturally extinct in a rather short time.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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