From: Petter Wingren-Rasmussen (petterwr@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Feb 10 2009 - 14:29:14 MST
On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 1:43 AM, Filipe Sobreira <warlordbcm1@yahoo.com.br>
wrote:
> Well, since English is not my native language, and typing anything really
> meaningful takes LOTS of time for me, I'll just paraphrase someone whose
> opinion is exactly the same as mine. He managed to express incredibly well
> his viewpoint on this subject, and since we think the same, I've decided
> that I could be more successful using his terms than my own. His name is
> David Jackson, and he usually posts on another list I lurk. So here we go:
I agree with your quote of Jackson on most parts, but I think you both miss
two important points:
1. Subjectively all living things are not of equal value.
I value any human being more than a potato.
I value any of you who participate on this list more than a person that i
have never had any contact with at all.
I value my family more than any of you.
Now, if a copy could be made of myself, through uploading or any other means
- that new identity will know me better than anyone and i will know it/him
equally well. Our opinions will be the same regarding every subject and I
think the value of this new identity for me will be equally valuable as my
closest family, probably even more so (in the sense that IŽd rather
testament everything to him than to anyone else).
>From this perspective uploading becomes meaningful, but not risk-free and
not something worth sacrificing everything else for.
2. I *believe* the continuation of self to be an illusion. I am not the same
person now that i was a second ago. The only thing that connects us is my
current memory of being that person one second ago.
If I am copied perfectly, both the resulting versions will be new and none
of them will be a continuation of my old self, they will only have that
memory.
This is just a belief, and not a particularly strong one, in my current
version of self. Right now I wouldnt sacrifice my life for an "eternal"
upload.
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