A view on cryonics (was Re: [extropy-chat] Bad Forecasts!)

[Jef Allbright]

Slawomir Paliwoda wrote:

>>Let's set aside the technical/philosophical aspects for a moment.  How
>>would it feel to *find out* that you are the copy?  How would it feel to
>>*be* the copy?  Why?
>>    
>>
>
>John K. Clark asked a similar question. I'm going to answer it even though
>the answer is irrelevant to what defines identity, and to the debate.
>
>If I found out I was the copy, then I, the copy, would feel great that my
>subjective experience still exists. How would it feel to be the copy? It
>would feel exactly the same as being the original. That doesn't mean I would
>be the original. If I, the original, were dead, then my subjective
>experience would register nothingness regardless of how many of my living
>and breathing copies might be out there.
>
>Obviously, this is all beside the point. How I feel about my identity does
>not define what it is.
>
>  
>
Thanks for humoring me, but I think that is as very important point.  In 
fact, you pointed our the ultimate importance of the subjective experience.

So, without referring to how it came to be, but only considering how it 
is experienced, what is the measurable difference between being the 
original versus being the copy?

- Jef