X-Message-Number: 8888
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 09:39:24 -0800
From: "Joseph J. Strout" <>
Subject: Re: Backups

John de Rivaz (in Cryomsg #8883) brought this up:

>You have a backup made, and then you are told that you are to be painlessly
>exterminated, but don't worry, the backup will then be activated.
>
>How do you feel about it?

Personally, I'd feel just fine, because I know I will survive the
procedure.  The backup is ME, I will still exist after the painless
extermination, so it will not worry me at all.

If the above scenario makes you uncomfortable, it merely shows you that our
comfort levels can be irrational.  Consider the following:

"You are going to be rendered unconscious, your chest cut open with a power
saw, your heart removed, and someone else's heart (ripped from their dead
chest) will be put in its place.  And all the while, you'll be brain dead
because we've lowered your body temperature considerably and replaced your
blood with a colorless perfusate solution.  How do you feel about it?"

Chances are, you feel a little uncomfortable.  What about this one:

"Scientists have discovered that every night, while you are in deep (phase
4) sleep, you actually die.  Your brain is metabolized for energy.  A new
brain is then created, from materials collected in your liver during the
day, with the same pattern of connections (though the actual material is
different).  You wake up an entirely new person, never suspecting the swap
-- but now you know.  How do you feel about it?"

If you're really attached to continuity, you might as well slit your wrists
when you go to bed.  A more rational person will note it as an idle
curiousity, nothing more.

The point is that a "thought experiment" designed merely to make you feel
uncomfortable about a procedure actually tells us very little about whether
the procedure is valid.  If one wants to roll up his sleeves and dig into
the philosophy, he can eventually discover the most consistent
interpretation of any thought (or actual) experiment.  Most people will not
bother to do this, and will simply lean whichever way their inclination (or
clever marketing) leads them.  We'll then see a selection process: those
not willing to undergo the procedures necessary for a greatly extended
lifespan will soon be outnumbered by those who are.

Cheers,
-- Joe

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout           Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|               http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/  |
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