[ExI] Uploads are self

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 25/03/2026 03:39, Jason Resch  wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 24, 2026, 10:53 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>     What I'm trying to say is that your own experiences have no link to other people's, even if they are identical. They may be the same (although nobody could tell), but they are in different places (different minds), so it doesn't matter. In fact, we can dispense with the concept of similarity or sameness altogether, it's irrelevant. What happens in your mind stays in your mind, and that's all that needs to be said.
>
>
> But that position is inconsistent with surviving as an upload. For why isn't that upload merely another mind (in a different place) having the same experience?


I don't understand your objection. This has nothing to do with whether someone's an upload or not. I'm just talking about experiences in individual minds. How those minds came to be is irrelevant.

An upload /is/ 'merely another mind, in a different place', but it's derived from the original mind, being an exact duplicate (to begin with). Subsequent experiences that happen in that mind might or might not be the same as in the original mind, nobody knows, and it doesn't matter. They are experiences that happen in (or 'belong to'), that specific mind.

I think that again, the language we are using might be getting in the way of understanding each other.

To be clear(er), when I said "we can dispense with the concept of similarity or sameness altogether", I'm talking about the experiences that the minds are having, not the minds themselves. Obviously the minds are (initially) the same. Of course, they are likely to diverge within seconds, but again, that is irrelevant.

-- 
Ben