Bruno,
In this step, one of me experiences (or actually does not experience)
the delay prior to reconstitution. In Step 2, it was proven to me that
I cannot know that any extra time (other than the 4 minutes necessary
transmission interval) has elapsed between my annihilation and
reconstitution on Mars. The same thing will now happen to one of "me"
in the duplication-plus-delay in Step 4. Essentially, Step 4 is
identical to Step 2 with duplication as the only added feature. We
cannot attribute a measure to my 1-pov in either step because the
outcome is truly random.
Here I would merely like to ask, random to whom? Doesn't random mean
that no conscious mind (mine or yours) can see the determinism behind
it? We are tempted to say "probability 1/2" but that is only a comp-
style "bet". You explained on this in Step 2:
"We see that the MEC hypothesis, generally considered as imposing a
strong determinacy in nature, introduces on the contrary a form of
strong indeterminacy. Even a God, or whatever possible Omniscient
Being, cannot predict to you, before a duplication (of you)
experiment, where you will feel to be after. If he told you "you will
feel to be the one in room A", the "Kim" in room A will say that such
God was right, but the one in room B will know or believe that that
God was wrong, and the point of MEC is that we have no reason to
listen more to one Kim than to the other Kim. In particular the Kim of
room A will not convince the Kim of room B, that "God" was right. No
Kim will ever be able to convince its counterpart about any possible
method of prediction for the particular future.
This does not mean that nothing can be predicted."
I want to grok this more. At this stage I can only believe you. I have
always felt (with Einstein) that reality is fundamentally
deterministic, even if we have to point to stochastic features along
the way. I know you will be able to debunk this easily and to my (and
Einstein's) satisfaction. Maybe dwell a little on this and then move
on to Step 5 where you manage to email me to me. This is truly scary
because here I meet "myself". I recall with horror what Angier did
about his double in "The Prestige"...
Actually, I believe I have already met my double. Once, a man stopped
outside my house and stroked my cat, which was on the verandah. I
greeted him and he told me that he had a cat that looked exactly like
my cat and that it was his dearest and most cherished friend (I feel
much the same way about my cat). I then asked him what name he had
given his cat. He told me "Cindy Bingy". I think my mouth must have
fallen open in shock because that is the name of my cat too. From
memory, the man looked rather like me as well. He then walked off
while I stood there wondering about the improbability of all this (I
cannot remember whether cannabis was in my system at the time)
regards,
K
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Received on Sat Jan 03 2009 - 06:59:48 PST