[ExI] Uploads are self

[Adrian Tymes]

On Wed, Mar 25, 2026 at 6:44 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> On 25/03/2026 03:39, Keith Henson wrote:
> > There is a nice short story that yours also reminds me of, called The Pit and the Duplicate: https://web.archive.org/web/20081122035540/http://www.leecorbin.com/PitAndDuplicate.html
>
> Excellent, thanks Keith, I didn't know about that one.
>
> It's probably the best version I've seen, that clearly shows the problem with dualistic thinking when uploading comes along.
>
> I would have added another button, that copies the person in the pit and kills them at exactly the same time, to complete things.

I would have pointed out that the duplicates - possibly just the first
one, certainly by the thousandth - were in ample position to lower a
rope end or something to the original and rescue the original.

I would have also noted that the first duplicate had no standing to
imply (via "Have faith! Press the button again, and you'll escape
too!") that pushing the button a second time would completely solve
the problem, since the first duplicate would have first hand evidence
that pushing the button again would only partially solve the problem.
(In other words, "you'll escape too" was a lie of omission: the
wording implies that all "you"s would escape, but one "you" would not,
and the person uttering that knew this to be the case.)

The completed Webcomic Schlock Mercenary made a plot arc out of this
sort of thing, when a guy named Gavin got teleporter-cloned to the
point that he became a minor demographic.  The plot arc explored some
consequences of this.