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So if I manage to create a perfect copy of you, you have no objection to me shooting you - the original one - in the head afterwards? After all, you - the perfe

by T-A 11y ago

So if I manage to create a perfect copy of you, you have no objection to me shooting you - the original one - in the head afterwards? After all, you - the perfect copy - will still be alive and well. If that prospect makes you a little uncomfortable, you are intuiting the problem of "pattern identity" vs "continuity identity".

jobigoud 11y ago
If you make a perfect copy, the identity has branched. There are now two distinct entities (with continuity) that are starting to diverge, why would any of them accept to be shot?
- tfm 11y ago
  ... not to mention, each of them might feel some small measure of empathy for the other! What if one did this regularly? Would battle-hardened cloners become insensitive to "retirement" of their doppelgangers, or as the last survivor of the series of slayings would they start to feel hunted? Really feels at least a few centuries too early to even gauge whether it is possible to substantially capture (let alone reproduce) the state of a brain. Sure would be disappointing if it turned out you could get 90% of the functionality with a ten-state DFA featuring frowning and pooping, but it would make cryonics a whole lot easier. "Just leave me enough brainstem to get home."
- FeepingCreature 11y ago
  I mean, I'd do it, because it's physically equivalent to losing a few seconds of memory. But I take it I am unusual in this.
Smaug123 11y ago
I would object, obviously. It would be murder of a human. You have duplicated me; that doesn't give you the right to kill one of me. The original remains sentient, and I would quite possibly care for it more than I would care for other family. Analogy: impregnating a woman and (eventually) causing her to give birth - that is, "duplicating" her, although the copy is actually not very like her - doesn't give you the right to kill her. I'm fine with teleportation, if that's what you mean, but I go into that with the intention of the death of one of the copies. It's effective suicide, not externally-imposed murder.
- x5n1 11y ago
  Humans do sexual reproduction. Many other living things don't play the sexual game, they do in fact produce copies of themselves who behave and look exactly as they do. I envy those civilized creatures. Their lives are much easier and more productive.
  - seanp2k2 11y ago
    Interesting. It really depends on what you value. I can imagine that many people value sex over productivity.
tempestn 11y ago
The Prestige explored a similar theme: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
x5n1 11y ago
Me when? 1 year old me, 10 year old me... 60 year old me. Me who finds women fascinating, me who despises women after a bitter divorce? We are many different people one day to the next. Our brains are a dynamic process forever changing. There is no you. There is only you now, later you will be different.

by T-A 11y ago

jobigoud 11y ago

If you make a perfect copy, the identity has branched. There are now two distinct entities (with continuity) that are starting to diverge, why would any of them accept to be shot?

tfm 11y ago
... not to mention, each of them might feel some small measure of empathy for the other! What if one did this regularly? Would battle-hardened cloners become insensitive to "retirement" of their doppelgangers, or as the last survivor of the series of slayings would they start to feel hunted? Really feels at least a few centuries too early to even gauge whether it is possible to substantially capture (let alone reproduce) the state of a brain. Sure would be disappointing if it turned out you could get 90% of the functionality with a ten-state DFA featuring frowning and pooping, but it would make cryonics a whole lot easier. "Just leave me enough brainstem to get home."
FeepingCreature 11y ago
I mean, I'd do it, because it's physically equivalent to losing a few seconds of memory. But I take it I am unusual in this.

Smaug123 11y ago

I would object, obviously. It would be murder of a human. You have duplicated me; that doesn't give you the right to kill one of me. The original remains sentient, and I would quite possibly care for it more than I would care for other family. Analogy: impregnating a woman and (eventually) causing her to give birth - that is, "duplicating" her, although the copy is actually not very like her - doesn't give you the right to kill her. I'm fine with teleportation, if that's what you mean, but I go into that with the intention of the death of one of the copies. It's effective suicide, not externally-imposed murder.

x5n1 11y ago
Humans do sexual reproduction. Many other living things don't play the sexual game, they do in fact produce copies of themselves who behave and look exactly as they do. I envy those civilized creatures. Their lives are much easier and more productive.
- seanp2k2 11y ago
  Interesting. It really depends on what you value. I can imagine that many people value sex over productivity.

tempestn 11y ago

The Prestige explored a similar theme: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/

x5n1 11y ago

Me when? 1 year old me, 10 year old me... 60 year old me. Me who finds women fascinating, me who despises women after a bitter divorce? We are many different people one day to the next. Our brains are a dynamic process forever changing. There is no you. There is only you now, later you will be different.