[ExI] dualism

[William Flynn Wallace]

Freudian slip?  Nah.  True materialist - that's me. Sorry for the mistake.
bill w

On Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 2:31 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On 04/04/2023 21:54, bill w wrote:
> > en, if it were possible to copy my brain contents into a clone or a
> > computer, it would be another me in a sense, but I can't see how I
> > could be conscious in both 'bodies'.  So, yes, true dualist. Otherwise
> > it's just magical thinking in my opinion.  It follows that if a copy
> > were made and put into a clone after I am dead, my consciousness is
> > still dead - there is no more 'me'.  Although the copy would fool
> > anyone.   bill w
>
> Sorry, you've confused me now.
>
> Earlier, you said you are not a dualist, now you're saying "yes, true
> dualist". I assume that was a mistake, and you meant "true materialist"?
>
> Your statement above classifies you, for me, as a cryptodualist. "Yes a
> copy of me would be me in a sense, but I can't see how I could be
> conscious in both bodies". Full rejection of dualism requires acceptance
> of multiple instantiations of the self. Two independent you's, both
> equivalent to the original in every sense, including consciousness
> (independent but initially identical constiousnesses, no 'group-mind or
> anything like that). Weird, yes I know, and takes quite a bit of
> pondering to wrap your head around (certainly did with me, anyway), but
> logically necessary. I find the example of an amoeba dividing to be a
> good way of thinking about it. Think of your mind as an amoeba, dividing
> into two identical amoebas, which then separate and go about their
> individual lives. There is no 'original amoeba', they have exactly equal
> status, but where there was one, now there are two.
>
> The thing that most people can't seem to get past, is the idea that
> there can only be one you. That any 'extra you' has to be 'not-you' in
> some sense (as if the amoeba had a 'special' organelle that for some
> reason can't be copied, and has to be handed to only one of the two
> daughter amoebas). I can see that this is natural, seeing as we've never
> had to think about this idea in the past, but again, as with my post
> about the language we use (see that I'm not exempt from this either, I
> still say 'your mind', etc.). if there can only be one you, even when
> everything about you is copied, then there must be /something else/,
> that's not copyable. That impllies magic, the idea that 'mind' and
> 'soul' are in fact different things, one subject to the known laws of
> nature, one not. That's dualism.
>
> Ben
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