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shminux comments on The Extended Living-Forever Strategy-Space - Less Wrong
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My minimal definition of identity continuity is instrumental, individual and bidirectional: both the identity donor and the identity recipient must agree that they have the same identity as the entity on the other end. This definition avoids the argument of the type "I don't think that if all my atoms are replaced, I will be the same person" and "If I take a general anaesthetic which slows down my mental processes to a halt, then I'm dead, and whoever wakes up from it is not me". I have no problem agreeing with people like that that cryo suspension would not preserve their identity, as long as they don't insist that it would not preserve mine. Moreover, for some people this definition is much more relaxed than mine, they might count a few photographs and fond memories as a partial identity preservation:
...As long as people don't insist on it being a universal threshold, I don't mind. If you agree that your identity is carried on by your children and they also agree that it is, good for you. Wouldn't work for me, but then I'm not them.
Do you actually use this definition for moral purposes‽ If so, it would seem that psyhcotropics drugs / brainwashing would be a much easier method of "identity preservation" than all this messy business of freezing people or storing full brain states or whatever. Indeed, you could live indefinitely with nothing but a colony ship of gullible uninquisitive people who have been taught really weird philosophy, and some self-inflicted brain damage. Am I misunderstanding you?
Edit: Or more concretely, just start a brainwash-y cult with some "We are all one consciousness" woowoo and then immerse yourself in it / smash yourself in the head with a brick until you believe your own doctrine. Heck, I'd be surprised if this hasn't been done already. Those New Age gurus really are extending their lifespans!