Stathis writes
> > No important difference exists between one person
> > to whom this is happening, and his neighbor to
> > whom it is not. They both feel similarly, and
> > by hypothesis lead very similar lives.
> If we had evolved in a world where multiple copies of
> people exist at the same time, our sense of personal
> identity and our attitude towards our copies would
> probably be close to what you are espousing. However,
> we did not evolve in such a world, and our brains are
> hardwired at a visceral level to respond as if we can
> only ever be a single individual, persisting through time.
Yes, much the same argument can be made against saying
that the Earth is not flat; it goes against all our
preconceived (and possibly evolved) intuitions.
> This view of personal identity is tied up with our will
> to survive (we have to have a sense of what it is that
> survives, after all), and it is very difficult to shake it
> with intellectual arguments.
Well, people here are prepared to accept that at each
moment the universe splits into innumerable copies,
that physics is governed by equations that Feynman
(erroneously IMO) says nobody can understand, and
our lives are not as they appear, but are composed
of ensembles of observer moments.
That, they can accept.
What is fain unutterable is that one might be in two
places at the same time, that is, that each is a fully
legitimate continuation of the other. That goes against
our instincts.
> If we had evolved in a world where multiple copies of
> people exist at the same time, our sense of personal
> identity and our attitude towards our copies would
> probably be close to what you are espousing.
Well, that is where we are headed anyhow. So get used
to it now. I did; and I tell you it's a lot easier than
that other stuff!
Lee
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Received on Wed Jun 21 2006 - 01:59:39 PDT