thread: 2007-02-26 : Exorcism followthrough
On 2007-02-28, Vincent wrote:
An hour ago I was painting in the new house. Five minutes ago I was flipping onion roti on a griddle. When I was doing those things, I had immediate conscious experience of them. Where is that consciousness now? It's gone forever; I remember it, but I will never have it again.
I ride the teleporter. What happens to the consciousness of the 1st Vincent? It's gone forever. I remember it, but I'll never have it again. Same as always.
What if it's a duplicator? Which one of us is the real me? The real me is gone forever. Look, look right this second: I have no consciousness of any future me. If there are two people who both remember my consciousness of typing this, they're identically not me. This me, my consciousness now, will be gone forever by the time the two of them exist. This me will be gone forever by the time you read this, in fact, no thought experiments required; some other consciousness who remembers me will exist by then.
That's my reasoned answer.
Am I confident enough in it to go through with riding the teleporter? Hmm. There are things that I know by reason are perfectly safe, which nevertheless make me uneasy. How uneasy, in this case? Well, would I ride the teleporter for $100? Probably not. Would I ride the teleporter to save the life of one of my kids? In a heartbeat.
