From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Feb 06 2009 - 17:31:53 MST
Stuart Armstrong wrote:
>> As I've pointed out 456,783,221 times over the years if you do that then
>> the two "identical" copies are no longer identical; one has a memory the
>> other does not have with an accompanied physical change in the brain.
>>
>
> Yes, but within the minutest moment of copying, quantum effects will
> cause the copies to diverge. So this rambling about "identical" copies
> is the problem - there can never be indentical copies, so the whole
> disscussion as to whether identical copies are one or two is moot.
>
> Stuart
>
More to the point, since we started off talking about a transporter, one
will be at the destination, and the other will still be at the start.
Even if there wasn't this difference, they would instantly start
receiving and reacting to different sensory impressions. The only time
the two copies are sufficiently indistinguishable is before the
operation (copying) has occurred. At that point they ARE
indistinguishable. I.e., the self at that time is going to end up in
both positions. To arbitrarily choose one is ... well, I can't perceive
any logic behind it. And I'm not presuming quantum entanglement...I'm
merely presuming that all noticeable memories are copied. (We forget
things every day, so I'm not even requiring perfect copies of the memory.)
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