<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252">
</head>
<body>
On 27/05/2020 07:07, bill w wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.2.1590559629.1464.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">The discussion so
far has managed to sidestep an earlier issue - consciousness.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">Let's assume that
this impossible operation is done while the original is asleep.
When he wakes up he feels normal - right? The copy wakes up and
what? They do not, cannot, share a consciousness, right? But
the copy has all the memories of the original and so thinks he
is that person whose mind and body he occupies. When told what
happened he becomes psychotic - my guess.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
My point is that they are both 'copies'. The original exists in the
past, but after the procedure there are two identical versions. One
can't be identified as 'the original' and the other 'the copy', they
are both exactly the same. If one is going to become psychotic, so
is the other. You're right that they do not share a single
consciousness, instead they both have their own consciousness, which
is exactly the same as before the procedure. Of course, they will go
their own ways and become increasingly different people, afterwards,
just as you are a different person from the hypothetical you that
didn't go to college. The only difference between them is that one
is on the right and one on the left, whereas the original was in the
middle.<br>
<br>
You could think of it like the many-worlds interpretation, where
each moment a new you branches off in a new universe. Actually, I've
not thought of it like this before. Surely anyone who thinks that a
copy of you can't really be you, must think the same about all the
you's in all the different universes?<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
</body>
</html>