On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 1:10 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <stath...@gmail.com>wrote:

> 2010/1/14 Jason Resch <jasonre...@gmail.com>:
>
> > I agree, there is no subjective difference.  But I think there is a
> logical
> > difference, if you are only your current OM why go to work when some
> other
> > OM will enjoy the fruits of that labor?  But by attaching every OM to the
> > same observer then there is a reason to make sacrifices such as work to
> the
> > benefit and hopefully overall improvement of the collection of OMs.
>
> I don't think there is a logical difference either. What you make of
> this problem is probably the single most important thing in the
> philosophy of personal identity.
>
> Suppose in the future you wish to travel by means of destructive
> teleportation. There are two types of ticket that you can buy: Economy
> Class and First Class. Economy Class costs $500 and guarantees that
> the person coming out at the receiving station has the same physical
> structure, and hence the same memories and other mental attributes, as
> the person who went into the sending station. First Class costs $1000
> and is the same as Economy Class, except that it is additionally
> guaranteed that the person coming out is the same person as the one
> who went in. Which ticket would you buy?
>
>
>
I would think the business is operating a scam and possibly report them for
making deceptive claims in advertising.  There is no difference between the
economy or first class tickets other than price and so I would go with the
economy level ticket.  I don't see how this is related, however, to the
distinction between you being a single timeless OM, and only that OM, and
you being a collection of, (possibly all) OMs.  Once someone admits personal
identity can be composed of multiple OMs it becomes a very unclear where to
draw the line on where that person ends and another begins.  Consider
evolution through time, and through the multi-verse, alternate you's in
other branches where you differ so little that even you could not tell
yourself apart.  It forms a spectrum that could in extremely small steps
connect you to any other person, so under that view where can you draw the
line?  How many genes or how many memories must differ for you not to be
you?

Jason
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