X-Message-Number: 18059
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 07:42:49 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: still more on duplication & cryonics

Hi everyone!

While I don't think much of Henderson's "electrical field", he does
raise the possibility that we may have features of our individuality 
which aren't described by current science.

To which, on the question of duplicates, I will answer simply: if
we do have such features, then any full repair of me or you means
that we restore these features too. If we don't restore them I
would agree that we aren't the same, but the same may be said of
a failure to restore other individual features we know about right
now. The problem about duplication isn't about copying but about
copying correctly.

And if we DO restore these features, then I do not see any argument
claiming that we're still "just duplicates". I do believe that we
are physical creatures and a physical copy of us which remains the
only copy in existence will be US. 

The possibility (now looking quite unlikely, but let's consider it)
that these extra features can only exist in our current body and
CANNOT be copied remains. For this the only thing I can say is that
if so we'll want to restore our body itself.. assuming that the
restoration does not destroy these extra features. And if it does,
then I guess we'd have to adjust to the fact that cryonics can't
always bring us back. Not nice. But then if you've been burned up
completely in an accident, we can't bring you back either. We'd
just have another version of this, which I hope the readers have
adjusted to already.

		Best wishes and long long life,

			Thomas Donaldson

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