From: John McNamara (harlequin@novastar.org)
Date: Fri Dec 04 2009 - 04:12:54 MST
> I wasn't referring to the miscalculation of risk with fear of flying,
> but to an irrational fear of being a kilometre up in the air in an
> aluminium tube even though you know it is perfectly safe.
I guessed wrong.
'perfectly' ? do you have shares an airline :-]
> If you know that destructive uploading will not damage your soul any more than
> ordinary life will, but are still afraid of it, then that is an
> irrational fear.
actually, my reasoning more along the lines of ....
why risk the unknown philosophical possibilities in big-bang instant
destructive copy when I can try a much more strategically familiar
(slow incremental migratory upload) way to achieve the exact same end
result ?
It's like abseiling down the skyscraper instead of taking the lift.
Sure it's _exciting_ but obviously more risky.
I'm claiming 2 things really
It's rational to choose the lower risk option if the rewards are
equal. No soul required. Even a non-sentient algorithm could make the
same choice.
and entirely separately
if your upload machine in any way performs a "copy" operation then by
definition it has created a universe where there are 2 of that thing,
any subsequent events such as destruction cannot reach back in time
and alter that fact regardless of the details.
it's a matter for culture to debate the value of anything destroyed .
Logic cannot prove what was destroyed had no value outside of a
cultural context. Culture is obviously subjective.
Best Regards
John Mc Namara
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