RE: Many Pasts? Not according to QM...

From: Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 22:13:58 -0000

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jonathan Colvin [mailto:jcolvin.domain.name.hidden]
>Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 5:20 AM
>To: everything-list.domain.name.hidden
>Subject: RE: Many Pasts? Not according to QM...
...
>That raises an interesting question. *Should* we (whether reasoned on an
>ethical basis or a purely selfish one) care more about a copy of ourselves
>getting hurt than a complete stranger?
>
>I have little doubt that I *would* rather a stranger get stuck than my copy,
>but only, I think, because I would have more empathy for my copy than for a
>stranger, in the same way that I would have more empathy for my mother
>getting stuck than I would for someone I don't know.
>
>Beyond the empathetic rationale, I don't see any convincing argument for
>favoring the copy over a stranger. The copy is not, after all, *me*
>(although it once was). We ceased being the same person the moment we were
>copied and started diverging.
>
>Jonathan Colvin

You might find that you preferred that your copy be murdered. Competition is
most intense for organisms that occupy the same environmental niche. In this
case that niche would include your bank account and your wife's bed.

Brent Meeker
Received on Wed Jun 08 2005 - 02:10:52 PDT