From: Matt Mahoney (matmahoney@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Feb 07 2009 - 16:09:20 MST
--- On Sat, 2/7/09, Krekoski Ross <rosskrekoski@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 2:38 AM, John K Clark <johnkclark@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> > Once upon a time there was an atom of hydrogen named Bob. Bob and a few
> > billion of his hydrogen friends were cooled down colder and colder until
> > they formed a Bose-Einstein condensate. After they warmed up again all
> > the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't pick out which one was
> > Bob again. And neither could God, and neither could you.
> >
> > John K Clark
> >
> Are you arguing that their information is somehow lost? It
> would still exist in the form of radiated energy in the room.
No, we are arguing about whether swapping the two 1 bits in the binary string 00010010 makes any important difference.
It is a silly argument until you start copying brains and then deciding which copy to destroy. It would remain a silly argument if your brain could think about the problem rationally without letting all your genetically programmed fears of things that can kill you get in the way.
-- Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo.com
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