[ExI] No link between original and copy? Denied!

[Stefano Vaj]

On 28 October 2010 15:50, Richard Loosemore <rpwl at lightlink.com> wrote:

> If you insist on using your above phrasing to describe this case (You said
> "[I have forced the uploaders] to argue that no link of any kind exists
> between the original an the copy") then you are obliged to ALSO agree that
> there is no link of any kind between the you of now and the you of a few
> seconds from now.
>

Yes, I think we have to agree that there is not, nor there need to be, any
"essential" link between the you of now and the you of a few seconds from
now.

"Identity" is just an evolutionary artifact.

This is why we can well decide that an "uploaded", functionally equivalent
emulation of Mr. Smith actually *is* Mr. Smith. And once we accept others to
remain functionally themselves albeit having gone through somewhat unusual
processes, we shall be inclined to make a projection in "survival" terms on
the new entity as we do for the "I a few seconds from now".

This is basically all that there is to be said on the subject, IMHO. The
solution to the conundrum is going to be sociological, not philosophical or
existential.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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