Re: death

From: rmiller <rmiller.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:46:29 -0500

At 10:55 AM 6/18/2005, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:


>(snip)
>The above mechanism would still work even if, as in my thought experiment,
>there were 10^100 exact copies running in lockstep and all but one died.
>Each one of the 10^100-1 copies would experience continuity of
>consciousness through the remaining copy, so none would really die.

RM: None would really die only if the behavioral configurations were
uniform and equal (thus equivalent) *and* only if their environment was in
an equivalent state. However, that is not the case here. The environment
and behavioral configurations of those who died are not commensurate with
the one who lived. No equivalence means differing results---and differing
paths. Let's look at it this way: take two boxes, perfectly equivalent in
every way and place inside each two similar marbles. Assume that both
systems are equivalent configurations and are, in effect, copies of one
another. When you remove one marble from its box, the other marble doesn't
follow suit---it stays put.
Received on Sat Jun 18 2005 - 12:48:00 PDT