> Here's a question: What if, instead of a digital copy, an > exact physical copy of your body and brain was constructed > (down to the subatomic leve

> Here's a question: What if, instead of a digital copy, an > exact physical copy of your body and brain was constructed > (down to the subatomic level) and then I woke you both up at > once. Is one of you you and the other not? What if I didn't > tell you which one was which? imagine you had something similar to a Star Trek replicator which could clone arbitrary objects down to the subatomic level. if you cloned a unique keepsake, the clone wouldn't _be_ the keepsake, but would be identical to the keepsake. Multiple equivalent instances is a separate concept from identity (and from the point of being awoken, I'd imagine clones would instantly diverge). Identical twins are a real world example of this. At one point, they are the same organism and split into essential two identical entities. They are two unique individuals. At the point of splitting, their identity diverges.