On 12 December 2013 22:36, LizR <lizj...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 12 December 2013 17:00, Richard Ruquist <yann...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Liz, >> >> In forking MWI worlds, your ID is constantly changing as it depends on >> various quantum states. >> Your detailed nature is never duplicated. Every fork is a change from >> your previous state. >> If comp supports MWI, why should your ID ever stay the same >> since you are constantly forking with or without the doctor. >> Rich >> >> Yes, I wondered about that. However you look at it, digital consciousness > involves constant state changes, at the substitution level and below. You > end up with something like David Deutsch's snapshots or Fred Hoyle's pigeon > holes, or someone, not sure who's "capsule" model of identity. It's all > very Heraclitean! > > To reply slightly less poetically, I agree. The MWI postulates that each "snapshot" is unique, and that only regions of the multiverse that had differentiated can be considered as different snapshots - so at the micro level we are made of superposed particles, and consciousness is riding along on top of (supervening on, if it does) constantly differentiating matter. Even if we consider snapshots of (say) me, each one is unique - there is only a (constantly branching) thread of "closest" states which give me a sense of identity along each thread. So one has identify the process that gives me a sense of identity amidst all this fizzing chaos, and see whether a digital brain could act as a "closest continuation" to any given snapshot.
Having said all which, I'm persuaded that it would be very difficult / impossible in practice to create a digital continuation. But obviously the universe creates continuations, digital or otherwise. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
