On 14 April 2015 at 13:03, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> wrote: > Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >> >> On 14 April 2015 at 12:18, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> >> wrote: >>> >>> Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >>>> >>>> On 14 April 2015 at 11:26, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>>> It's an illusion even in a dualist model, because dualism does not >>>>>> logically rule out copying. The illusion, to spell it out further, is >>>>>> that I am a unique entity persisting through time. That is what I feel >>>>>> to be "personal identity" at the visceral level, and even though >>>>>> intellectually I know better, I can't shake the feeling. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> It's stubborn, even if an illusion, eh? If you were duplicated, would >>>>> you >>>>> be >>>>> prepared to kill your duplicate? Who would you kill? >>>> >>>> >>>> If it came to a fight over the last place in a lifeboat I might be >>>> prepared to kill my duplicate and he would be prepared to kill me (I >>>> can say this since I know how he thinks). I would feel bad about >>>> killing him because he can then anticipate no future experiences: >>>> there will be no future entity that remembers being him so the >>>> illusion of being a person persisting through time would end. I would >>>> not worry about destructive copying of myself or someone else because >>>> then the illusion would persist. This is a rough answer and it is not >>>> difficult to think of situations that cause problems. For example, >>>> taking a drug such as midazolam which causes amnesia could be seen as >>>> equivalent to killing your copy. >>> >>> >>> Wouldn't it be easier just to commit suicide? You are still killing the >>> same >>> person on your account. >> >> >> If I commit suicide the illusion of persisting through time is >> destroyed. If I kill my copy or if I enter a destructive duplicator >> the illusion is maintained. > > > So the illusion really is important, then. If you commit suicide, you do > continue through time because your duplicate survives. Or is that different?
If I commit suicide but a duplicate survives with my memories at the time of suicide then I feel that I survive; this is what happens with destructive duplication. Another way to put it (in terminology which has been more commonly used on this list in the past) is that if I have successor observer moments then I survive. But this definition of survival can cause problems, because if you take an amnesia-inducing drug, you have no successor observer moments. It is equivalent to committing suicide with a copy made a while ago in the next room - which I would be reluctant to do. There is no consistent theory of personal identity (or of how to maintain the illusion of personal identity) that covers all eventualities. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- 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/d/optout.
