X-Message-Number: 11184 Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 22:59:50 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #11174 Thomas Donaldson notes more problems with the idea of creating functioning duplicates of a person that would exist in the same world as the original, so the two would also quickly diverge and become separate individuals. I don't deny that someone would have problems coexisting with their near-double who was already well-established in their world, nor would I claim that one individual would "survive" in or share consciousness with a near-double. (An absolutely perfect double would be another matter of course.) I don't see much interest in creating such near-doubles for a very long time. But as the hopefully infinite future unfolds, inevitably (I think) there will be interest in doing almost anything that is doable, much as we find today in many different fields of endeavor. So someday I would expect that such near-doubles will be produced, along with many other strange and often wonderful things. Perhaps the near-double will start from a person as that person was many centuries previously, not as it currently is. Talk about a catch-up problem! After many *more* centuries, however, the near-double will have developed into a distinct individual in its own right, in ways that could be interesting and rewarding to its creators, and will perhaps be able to find an honored place among them. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11184