Diana wrote on Mon, 1 Feb 1999
> Magnus and squad
> >Suppose there is a teleportation system that copies your DNA, kills
> >you then instantaneously builds a perfect copy of you at a different
> >location would you agree to travel by it?
> >Or suppose it doesn't kill you, would it create another you?
> >What does it take? Is it enough to copy your DNA? Are "you" defined
> >by your DNA?
> I would say that according to the MOQ our DNA only reflects our biological
> value. So, this transporter would create a perfect biological copy but
> mentally it would be like a baby with no social or intellectual patterns.
> On the other hand if you could include memory in the package, the social
> and intellectual patterns would be retained. Somehow that still doesn't
> satisfy though. The patterns might be there, but I'm not so sure about the
> consciousness. The DNA is only the information about the body, it is not in
> itself the actual experiencing body. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding DNA, but
> you might be able to write down all the information, but how would you make
> the new body actually alive?
Diana and Magnus and Squad.
Interesting inputs Diana. Yes, I too believe that a human clone - by
the technique applied today - would merely be one's identical twin
with a different temperament (even Siamese twins are different
personalities). But our thought experiment is more advanced with the
possibility of zipping us across with every last memory "byte" in
place, and in that case I can see no other possibility that another
me has been created. But - shudder - if I (here) weren't destroyed I
think the I (there) would be a different person, and should I happen
to meet him would think it an uncanny resemblance, but still not me.
I think this also underpins the MOQ because in it the various
q-levels may be seen as different identities.
Your closing words about how to make such a teleported body alive
I join fully. Even if Paul Nestadt didn't like me writing off
the feasibility I still think it - to say the least - far off. (But
so was once the Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky thought experiment).
I would also have liked this thread to expand to looking into the
implications for the various Q-levels should human cloning become a
possibility like the MD discussion started by Pete, Glove and Maggie
Is that allowed, Magnus?
Bodvar.
MOQ Online - http://www.moq.org
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