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 | Continuity again | |
| Posted By: Forrest of B.org | Date: 4/5/05 7:29 p.m. |
| In Response To: Copied identities (MrHen) : So an AI can become two people and then let one copy kill the other without
When an asexual animal breeds, it has effectively just created a copy of itself. If that copy then kills its mother is that "a strange form of suicide" or just matricide? A copied Durandal would be distinguishable from the original in that the original still resides on its own original media; the instant the copy is made, the two begin to diverge and are thus two different beings with similar heritage. The first is still the first, and the second is new. Philosophically, I find a good line for distinguishing between when something is the same thing (its "self") or something else is thus: 1) If something changes slowly over time (in composition, location, etc), but is still at all points continuous with earlier versions, it is the same thing. A learning and adapting mind, a growing body, a machine or other object being slowly modified, etc, are all their same continuous selves, even though the self at point in time A may be entirely different from the self at point in time B. 2) If there is a gap in continuity in any way - something ceases to be, and then something else is - then they are NOT the same being, unless they are somehow continuous in another way (i.e. there may be a physical gap in continuity but an informational bridge between the two parts). 3) If there is a gap in continuity - something ceases to be, and then resumes being - but the two "beings" dovetail in a continuous way to create the pattern (2) above (say a temporal gap but structural/informational continuity), then it is still the same "self", which just momentarily vanished. An AI which is deactivated and then reactivated, a chair or other object that is disassembled and then reassembled, a person who dies and then comes back to life - are all the same beings despite the break in continuity. 4) If something is created in the image of something else, even if an exact copy, the original is still the original and the copy is now a new being with a shared heritage as the original. If the original then ceases to be, the copy is still a copy and not the original,although if the creation of copy and destruction of original occur quickly enough that pattern (3) above is the result of it all, then it is still the same thing. So for a "person" (in the general meaning of the word, human or not), I would say that one is a continuous collection of matter, behavior, and ideas. If the behavior temporarily stops but the matter and ideas are preserved (ala stasis), it's still the same being. If the matter temporarily stops but the behavior or ideas are preserved (disembodyment or transfer to a new host), it's still the same being. If the ideas stop but the matter is preserved (total amnesia), it's still the same being. So long as some part of it is continuous, it is still the same person. | |
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