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I think that's an interesting possibility. However I am biased by Buddhist philosophy in that I think that the continuance of experience is just an illusion tha

I think that's an interesting possibility. However I am biased by Buddhist philosophy in that I think that the continuance of experience is just an illusion that our brain is stitching so to speak together. In other words I think it's completely possible to experience a single frame of consciousness alone from any other. Like if in the infinite multitude of possibilities somehow all the atoms in a rock a line in such a way that The Rock experiences one blip of consciousness. Or maybe I'm just romantic

datameta 3y ago
I suppose I might be conflating some thoughts on identity with consciousness. Say, if a person goes through a teleporter, are they still themselves afterwards? If an AGI is copied, is the copy them? They can no longer be only an individual, but each an instance right? Or perhaps this is a biased anthropomorphic view from the kind of sentience that either has continuity or not
- raidicy 3y ago
  No idea I think they're all really good questions. I like your example that they become an instance. For the sake of argument say you have Holy Grail AGI™ and you copy it and starting from State t where T is the exact moment you copy it, two instances now exist. I think they are both "them" but the state change through time as a chaotic process and so since they are now separated they will eventually begin to drift? This is based totally on nothing but "dude trust me I made it up"
  - datameta 3y ago
    I think that makes complete sense and points me to the fact that it it simply that most of us aren't yet fully equipped to effectively use the vocabulary to describe these concepts, but you have put it well, I believe.
    - raidicy 3y ago
      Please take credit where credit is due; you used the word instance :-). I figure what we're doing in these threads is kind of what sci-fi authors who were way smarter than myself have done for decades: Muse about a topic, put down some ideas maybe some new vocabulary Etc. Then when new technology comes out those of us who are well read can look back and say "A ha! That clever bastard knew it all along!"
      - bobbiechen 3y ago
        Both of you might enjoy Greg Egan's Permutation City - sci-fi involving simulated human consciousnesses that explores some related ideas.
        datameta 3y ago
        It's now been recommended too many times to me for me to not read it! I hear one needs their big kid math hat for this 9 on the Mohs hardness scale of hard sci-fi.
jackothy 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

datameta 3y ago

I suppose I might be conflating some thoughts on identity with consciousness. Say, if a person goes through a teleporter, are they still themselves afterwards? If an AGI is copied, is the copy them? They can no longer be only an individual, but each an instance right? Or perhaps this is a biased anthropomorphic view from the kind of sentience that either has continuity or not

raidicy 3y ago
No idea I think they're all really good questions. I like your example that they become an instance. For the sake of argument say you have Holy Grail AGI™ and you copy it and starting from State t where T is the exact moment you copy it, two instances now exist. I think they are both "them" but the state change through time as a chaotic process and so since they are now separated they will eventually begin to drift? This is based totally on nothing but "dude trust me I made it up"
- datameta 3y ago
  I think that makes complete sense and points me to the fact that it it simply that most of us aren't yet fully equipped to effectively use the vocabulary to describe these concepts, but you have put it well, I believe.
  - raidicy 3y ago
    Please take credit where credit is due; you used the word instance :-). I figure what we're doing in these threads is kind of what sci-fi authors who were way smarter than myself have done for decades: Muse about a topic, put down some ideas maybe some new vocabulary Etc. Then when new technology comes out those of us who are well read can look back and say "A ha! That clever bastard knew it all along!"
    - bobbiechen 3y ago
      Both of you might enjoy Greg Egan's Permutation City - sci-fi involving simulated human consciousnesses that explores some related ideas.
      - datameta 3y ago
        It's now been recommended too many times to me for me to not read it! I hear one needs their big kid math hat for this 9 on the Mohs hardness scale of hard sci-fi.

jackothy 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain