Timeline for Does any science-fiction handle the ethics of teleportation ("kill and clone")?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 22, 2011 at 12:03 | comment | added | user296 | ... as "I am also on Mars". However, the longer I am both on Earth and on Mars, the harder it is to convince ones self of that, as both of me continue on different paths we diverge into different entities, each of us having a him and a me. The instant the two sets of atoms stop having the same quantum state is when the him and me split happens. The me on earth is still facing some sort of termination, isn't it perfectly reasonable for that me to want to survive? | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 11:58 | comment | added | user296 | @romkyns: "the same arguments can be used to rationalise anything?". Yes they can, and can be used to rationalise things like racism and child abuse. This is why I say "at some level", and I think that "facing personal termination" is a perfectly valid level to start listening to my baser animal instincts. I can rationally "know" that the copy of me on Mars is me in every way, however for some length of time there will be two sets of atoms with the same quantum state in two different places. This means the me here is aware of another me on Mars. You could decide to think of it (cont) | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 11:48 | comment | added | RomanSt | @Binary I see your point of view, but don't you think the same arguments can be used to rationalise anything? If you're all for rationality you might at least try to suppress the irrational visceral reaction. After all, everyone's visceral reaction is "I'd flipped heads ten times in a row; the next time MUST ABSOLUTELY be a tails, right? I'm betting my house on it. Oh... What do you mean it's independent?!" | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 11:34 | comment | added | user296 | @romkyns: I haven't seen those sources, but am aware of the concepts. They're all well and good (and provable, even if I don't personally understand the math & physics involved), and yes they reflect the reality that is. However, my point is that because we are animals, you cannot just ignore the visceral reaction. I'm all for rationality - believe me, I argue for it all the freaking time however we must also acknowledge - at some level - our instinctive imperatives. For me I draw the line at teleportation, I don't think I would ever choose to travel by teleporter. | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 10:56 | comment | added | RomanSt | @Binary I don't think you read or understood any of those linked posts. Yes, this is an intuitive reaction of any human. It is as wrong as things can be. | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 10:44 | comment | added | user296 | -1: "...no different in any definable way..." It is entirely definable when the someone being copied is me. +2billion years of evolution definitely causes a visceral reaction when I face my own termination. Knowing that an exact copy of me - that will not be me - exists elsewhere is little comfort. | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 2:15 | comment | added | RomanSt | @dmckee,@chaos Yes, and yes. If you feel strongly enough about this answer not fitting the question, by all means downvote it. I promise no hard feelings; I myself downvote all the time. | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 1:56 | comment | added | chaos | @romkyns: I'm not so impressed with its applicability to this one. Sciencey arguments that essentially tell me that my subjective experience doesn't exist need to be categorized on TVTropes under YouFailDescartesForever. | |
| Feb 22, 2011 at 1:55 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | For the purposes of ethical pondering it doesn't matter if it's possible or not. If that bothers you on the sf/fantasy level, the author just needs to posit some totally new principle. Not that I expect a totally new principle, but that's why it would be new. | |
| Feb 21, 2011 at 23:00 | comment | added | RomanSt | @dmckee true; this argument fails in any universe that doesn't intend to be exactly like ours. | |
| Feb 21, 2011 at 20:55 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | If the copying process is independent of the destruction process---as in the story Dima suggests---this argument fails. | |
| Feb 21, 2011 at 15:31 | history | answered | RomanSt | CC BY-SA 2.5 |