Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> 2009/2/11 Jack Mallah <jackmallah.domain.name.hidden>:
>
>>>> 3) If I am defined as an observer-moment, then I am
>>> part of either A1 or A2, not even the whole thing - just my
>>> current experience. This is the most conservative
>>> definition and thus may be the least misleading.
>>>
>>> This is the way I think of it, at least provisionally.
>> OK.
>>
>>> But the point is, I do look at the clock and I do know that I am A, with probability 1, and therefore that I will soon be B with probability 1.
>> That contradicts what you said above about being an observer-moment. If you are, then some _other_ observer-moments will be in B, not you.
>
> But the same could be said about everyday life. The person who wakes
> up in my bed tomorrow won't be me, he will be some guy who thinks he's
> me and shares my memories, personality traits, physical
> characteristics and so on. In other words, everyone only lives
> transiently, and continuity of consciousness is an illusion.
I think I understand your point, but I don't see that the continuity of
consciousness is any more an illusion than any other continuity: the continuity
of space, the persistence of objects, etc. You are just generalizing Zeno's
paradox. But once you look at it that way, the question becomes, "Why imagine
the continuity is made up of discrete elements?" It is this conceptualization,
points in space, moments in time, observer moments as atoms of consciousness,
that creates the paradox. So maybe we should recognize continuity as
fundamental. The continuity need not be temporal, it could be a more abstract
property such a causal connection or perhaps what Bruno says distinguishes a
computation from a description of the computation.
Brent
>The
> question of survival is then the question of how to ensure that this
> illusion continues. QI allows the illusion to continue indefinitely.
>
>
>
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Received on Wed Feb 11 2009 - 02:18:53 PST