On 16 Aug 2012, at 17:44, meekerdb wrote:
On 8/16/2012 8:22 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
On 16 Aug 2012, at 15:06, meekerdb wrote:
On 8/16/2012 2:52 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
On 15 Aug 2012, at 17:29, meekerdb wrote:
On 8/15/2012 3:15 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
It is mine if the random generator is part of me. It is not
mine if
the generator is outside of me (eg flipping the coin).
I don't see this. Why would the generator being part of you
make it your choice? You might define "me" and "part of me"
before. It is not clear if you are using the usual computer
science notion of me, or not, but I would say that if the root
of the choice is a random oracle, then the random oracle makes
the choice for me. It does not matter if the coin is in or
outside my brain, which is a local non absolute notion.
I'd say the crucial difference is whether you chose to use the
random oracle (i.e. flip a coin) or you make a random decision
(due to a K40 decay) without knowing it.
If I don't it, in what sense is it my free personal decision?
Don't do which? You can flip a coin and then change your mind and
not do what it indicates, so whether to follow the coin or not is
your decision. The decision due to the K40 decay is just another
branch in Everett's multiverse.
Apology. I meant: if I don't know it. If I flip a coin and don't
respect the output, the decision is mine indeed, but if I stick to
my decision of following the random result, then, well, that
decision (to follow the coin) is mine, but the decision to drink
tea instead of coffee, with the coin, is the coin or God decision.
I refer to the coin, and not to me. I can say that I abandon my
decision to the coin throwing process. I stop to decide.
It seems that it's a question of demarcating a somewhat fuzzy
boundary between "me" and the rest of the world. As Dennett says,
"You can avoid responsibility for everything if you just make
yourself small enough." You often refer to the person as the 1p
view 'from the inside'.
The person is the subject who believe to have that view. he believes
for example that he is the one in W, after the duplication. But the
person is more abstract and complex than any of his 1-view. The
knower, Bp & p, is already closer to the notion of person, for a
better approximation.
How 'big' is the person in this theory? What's the boundary between
the person and the world he sees from his 1p view?
Only the person can answer that, and according to different
experience, can give very different answer. Still, we can reason from
semi-axiomatic presentation, and that answer is not needed for the
reasoning.
I current feeling, I can tell you, is that the number of possible
person is either one, or two, but no more.
I tend to think that all living creature are the same person, or the
same double person, as we might need to be two to be conscious,
somehow. I am not sure.
Bruno
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
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