Do you consider the "you" of today to be the same as the "you" of a year ago? Or is the current "you" just some bloke who has the same memories of the old "you"? Considering how much material in the body gets replaced over time.
OK, that's a bit off-topic, but an interesting question regardless, and I've been thinking about this lately. I've finally decided on something some time ago, though my opinion on the matter could still change.
I think that we are in perpetual evolution. Our memories are perpetually updated, and we make our choices based on our experience (and probably some biochemical mechanisms that affect the decision making process, probably by changing how those memories are accessed, among others.
Aren't we dying everyday, for someone else to wake up in our place the next day? To put it more bluntly, our consciousness is interrupted for the night, a "garbage collector" running, and we "reboot" the next day. What about this night you can't remember because of alcohol? Someone was here, controlling your body, yet it wasn't you (and to repeat myself, the one writing this - me - is probably going to be slightly different than the one reading the possible replies - "me" as well - and that's OK).
What I find valuable is experience. Period. It takes a huge amount of energy to train a child, and the goal is for him to be beneficial to the society (think tribe/species if you want) in return. He will be able to pass on part of his experience to the next generation, thus improving the pool of knowledge for the society (this is a general rule, it can work with genes as well).
Thus, jumping a bit to conclusions, I value my experience and memories more than this body. And I would gladly part with it if it could mean a longer life span for them. Even existing only as an "archive". But I consider that I have still much data/experience collection I can do before passing out. And there is no way to pass this data on.
If you think about it this way, a copy is a fork, and is likely to preserve experience: that's good. And cooperation is a given if the two share this idea.
Moreover, I consider it to be a rather optimistic and cheerful way of viewing things, it can be comforting at times; And I feel like some robot apocalypse or similar is simply a non issue, as long as knowledge is preserved.
That's the thought process you can have if you think too much about issues like teleportation.
Now, I need to get back to work on my brain scanner.
Seriously though, what is your opinion on the matter, now that I exposed my current one? I would be curious if you could "share your experience" with me :P
> Aren't we dying everyday, for someone else to wake up in our place the next day? To put it more bluntly, our consciousness is interrupted for the night, a "garbage collector" running, and we "reboot" the next day.
That.. is eerily similar to something I heard or read from a character in a game/anime/book/show very recently, but the name escapes me..
Maybe it was from Tides of Numenera.. You should definitely check out that game as well as SOMA. There's also a charming-yet-mindfuck'y anime called Kaiba. They go pretty deep into the idea of consciousness, identity and free will.
By the way, is there a name or term for that, uh..idea? That our self "resets" in sleep?
This thought has crossed my minds many times! Great to see it here. I don't know if there is an experiment that could prove or disprove this theory. How does one differentiate between two 'different' selves? And should there be a difference?
A short story in this vein that I really like is "Fat Farm" by Orson Scott Card. The copied dude looks wistfully after his copy who just walked out the door, and asks "Now what?" The answer is not pleasant.
