From: Stuart Armstrong (dragondreaming@googlemail.com)
Date: Mon Feb 16 2009 - 04:03:20 MST
>>> If you and the original were facing each other an equal distance from
>>> the center of a symmetrical room then you two would be receiving
>>> identical input and thus act identically; and if I switched your
>>> position no outside observer could tell the difference objectively, and
>>> you couldn't tell the difference subjectively. So I conclude it makes no
>>> difference.
>
> "Stuart Armstrong" <dragondreaming@googlemail.com> said:
>
>> The fact that it's not true (viz classical chaos or quantum
>> decoherence)
>
> Chaos is an interesting phenomenon but it does no apply to all complex
> things;
Of course not; some equations behave chaotically while very similar
ones don't. Determining whether a system is chaotic is a rather
precise mathematical problem. But at least some chaotic phenomena
exist in the human body and in any symmetric room. Enough for the two
copies to distinguish each other, and for others to do so as well.
Quickest way of doing so: tell the copies to fight each other, and the
winner gets the title "alpha". As soon as they start grappling with
each other, the small divergence will get instantly magnified enough
to break the symmetry.
Stuart
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