[ExI] Let's play What If.

John Clark jonkc at bellsouth.net
Wed Oct 27 04:43:59 UTC 2010


On Oct 26, 2010, at 1:22 PM, Dave Sill wrote:

> But we're talking about an original and an upload

And neither would know which is which unless you told them, and even then they probably wouldn't believe you; both would probably insist they were the original regardless of the evidence, but I wouldn't because I don't care if I'm the original or the copy. 

> so there would be two separate beings as soon as the upload is activated

There would be only one conscious experience provided the two were identical.

> The upload could be aware that it's a virtual copy and consider itself a fork of the original

Then one would be aware of something that the other is not so the two would no longer be identical.

> and unable to claim that it is the original.

The original what? It can't be the original atoms since neither entity owns them they just rent them, and it can't be original information since both embody the same information; so what exactly is so original about the original? And I can point to something that is not a thought experiment but actually happens, when a one cell ameba reproduces it splits in have and then the two half's grow back to their previous size, it is not meaningful to ask which is the original and which is the copy.  

> Also, the law may well not grant both entities the same rights.

I was talking about logic and you're talking about the law, the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

  John K Clark 



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