Re: objections to QTI

From: George Levy <glevy.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 16:00:39 -0700

Hi Hal,

Remember that the chain of events that must lead you to be 1000 years
old must be perfectly logical and consistent. A good science fiction
writer would have no problem weaving a plot that could bring you to such
a situation. One could evoke living in a simulator, or the appearance of
aliens capable of prolonging life, etc...

This plot would be extremely unlikely but so is our present situation
right here and now. So your scenario differs only in degrees from the
one we are experiencing right now.

Your age depends how you look at it. Our life as a continuous chain from
cell to cell has lasted possibly more than 4 billion years. (happy
birthday :-) ) So it appears that our existence does justify QTI

George


Hal Finney wrote:

>Let me pose the puzzle like this, which is a form we have discussed
>before:
>
>Suppose you found yourself extremely old, due to a near-miraculous set
>of circumstances that had kept you alive. Time after time when you were
>about to die of old age or some other cause, something happened and you
>were able to continue living. Now you are 1000 years old in a world
>where no one else lives past 120. (We will ignore medical progress for
>the purposes of this thought experiment.)
>
>Now, one of the predictions of QTI is that in fact you will experience
>much this state, eventually. But the question is this: given that you
>find yourself in this circumstances, is this fact *evidence* for the
>truth of the QTI? In other words, should people who find themselves
>extremely old through miraculous circumstances take it as more likely
>that the QTI is true?
>
>Hal Finney
>
>
>
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>
Received on Tue May 31 2005 - 19:06:35 PDT