you're not competent to debate with this crowd.
Well then, since I am so intellectually deficient in this genius group then prove me to be a fool to the amusement of all, I mean proving somebody to be stupid is one of the great pleasures of life, so do so. Come on Mr. Brains, Mr. Intellectual superior, I dare you to try!
Most people on Less Wrong do know that identity doesn't follow atoms
You know something, I simply don’t believe you. For about two decades I have been debating this matter and have never found one person who agreed with me, not one. Now you say you have found hundreds, I say bullshit. Hell if we ever got down to the Nitty Gritty I doubt even you wouldn’t agree with me because you must believe in the soul. I mean, I know for a fact that you believe in the friendly AI idea, and the only way that idea is not so stupid as to be strangled by unrestrained giggles is if you believe in some sorry ridiculous permutation of the silly old soul idea.
Yea yea I know, you say you don’t believe in the soul blah blah blah. But you do believe that a slave, sorry I should have said friendly, AI is possible; that tells me what you really think.
I was in the Eternally Recurring Personal Identity Wars in another (non-transhumanist) forum, and there were plenty of arguers on both sides too. I was (and still am) on the "deconstruction and reconstruction preserves identity" side, even before reading Eliezer's take on it.
I don't think that quantum mechanics and the lack of "atom identity" is that important; even in a universe made of little billiard ball atoms with each their own identity, I'd still consider that deconstruction and reconstruction with different atoms doesn't kill you.
What do you believe that most people on this site don't?
I'm especially looking for things that you wouldn't even mention if someone wasn't explicitly asking for them. Stuff you're not even comfortable writing under your own name. Making a one-shot account here is very easy, go ahead and do that if you don't want to tarnish your image.
I think a big problem with a "community" dedicated to being less wrong is that it will make people more concerned about APPEARING less wrong. The biggest part of my intellectual journey so far has been the acquisition of new and startling knowledge, and that knowledge doesn't seem likely to turn up here in the conditions that currently exist.
So please, tell me the crazy things you're otherwise afraid to say. I want to know them, because they might be true.