On Oct 31, 2008, at 1:58 PM, Brent Meeker wrote:
> I think this problem is misconceived as being about probability of
> survival.
In the case of simple teleportation, I agree. If I step into a
teleporter, am obliterated at one end, and come out the other end
"changed" - missing a bunch of memories, personality traits, etc., it
doesn't seem quite correct to ask the question, "what's the
probability that that person is me?" It seems more correct to ask
something like "what percentage of 'me' is that person?" And in fact,
this is the point I've been trying to make all along - that we have to
accept some spectrum of cases between "the collection of molecules
that came out is 100% me" and "the collection of molecules that came
out is 0% me".
The idea of probability enters the picture (or seems to) when we start
talking about multiple copies. If I step into a teleporter, am
obliterated, and out of teleporter A steps a copy that's 100% me and
out of teleporter B steps a copy that's 10% me, what's the best way to
view this situation? Subjectively, what should I believe that I'm
about to experience as I step into that teleporter? It's hard for me
not to think about this situation in terms of probability - to think
that I'm more likely to find myself at A than B. It's especially hard
for me not to think in these terms when I consider that, in the case
when the thing that ends up in teleporter A is 100% me and the thing
that ends up in teleporter B is 0% me, the answer is unambiguous: I
should simply believe that I'm going to subjectively experience ending
up in teleporter A.
I'm sympathetic to the argument that it's still not correct to frame
this problem in terms of probability. But I don't understand how else
to frame it. How do you (Brent) frame the problem? Subjectively, what
should I expect to experience (or feel that I'm most likely to
experience) when I step into a teleporter, and I know that the thing
that's going to come out Receiver A will be 100% me and the thing
that's going to come out of Receiver B will be 10% me?
-- Kory
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Received on Sat Nov 01 2008 - 20:16:48 PDT