[ExI] Essential Upload Data

[John Clark]

On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 2:29 PM Re Rose via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> *Um.....nope. Confusion or uncertainty of locality is not the same as
> being in the other agent body. You're still you, just a bit disoriented. *
>

Speaking of disorientation, about a decade ago I had a personal problem of
that nature and wrote to the list about it asking for advice, this is what
I said:
==
A month ago I finished my matter duplicating machine. It can find the
position and velocity of every atom in a human being to the limit imposed
by Heisenberg's law. It can then used this information to construct a copy
of the person and it does it all in a fraction of a second and without
harming the original in any way. You may be surprised that I was able to
build such a complicated machine, but you wouldn't be if you knew how good
I am with my hands. The birdhouse I made is simply lovely and I have all
the latest tools from Sears.

I was a little nervous but last week I decided to test the machine by
duplicating myself. I walked into the chamber, it filled with smoke (damn
those old radio shack capacitors) there was a flash of light, and then 3
feet to my left was a man who looked exactly like me. It was at that
instant that the full realization of the terrible thing I did hit me. I
yelled "This is monstrous, there can only be one of me!", the other guy
yelled exactly the same thing. I thought he was trying to mock me, so I
reached for my 44 magnum that I always carry with me (I wonder why people
think I'm strange) and pointed it at my double. I noted with alarm that my
double also had a gun and he was pointing it at me. I shouted "You don't
have the guts to pull the trigger, but I do!". Again he mimicked my words
and did so in perfect synchronization, this made me even more angry and I
pulled the trigger, he did too. My gun went off but due to a random quantum
fluctuation his gun jammed. I buried him in my backyard.

Now after time has passed my anger has cooled and I can think more clearly
I've had some pangs of conscious about killing a living creature, but
that's not what really torments me. How do I know I'm not the copy? I feel
exactly the same as before, but would a copy feel different? Actually there
is a way to be certain, I have a old VHS video tape of the entire
experiment. My memory is that the copy first appeared 3 feet to my LEFT, if
the tape shows the original walking into the chamber and the copy
materializing 3 feet to his RIGHT, then I would know that I am the copy.
But I'm afraid to look at the tape, should I be? If I found out I was the
copy what should I do? I suppose I should mourn the death of John K Clark,
but how can I, I'm not dead. If I am the copy would that mean that I have
no real past and my life is meaningless? Is it important, or should I just
burn the tape and forget all about it?

John K Clark
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