X-Message-Number: 26656
From: 
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:38:28 EDT
Subject: Does a difference make a difference?

Thomas Donaldson writes in part:

> [ A  copy] would be the same as me because it differs in no way  from
>what I was before my annihilation centuries ago. 
 
Thomas, you aren't being accurate here. You say "no way" when you really  
mean "no important way." 
 
Obviously, a copy differs at least in spatio-temporal location. Is that  
important? We don't know with absolute certainty, but we do know that a  

difference in location *necessarily* implies other differences as well, if for  
no 
other reason because the gravitational interactions are different. 
 
Are these other differences important? Again, we don't know for certain.  

What we do know for certain is that some subsequent systems are tied to earlier
ones by chains of overlap, and others are not, or at any rate less so. In 

other  words, continuity may be present or lacking or reduced. Clearly, a pair 
of  
systems tied by continuity are "closer"  than a pair not so tied. Common  
sense tells us to minimize our risk by maximizing continuity.
 
Robert Ettinger








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