g_pepper comments on Identity map - Less Wrong

5 Post author: turchin 15 August 2016 11:29AM

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Comment author: turchin 15 August 2016 08:40:11PM 0 points [-]

But if you don't know who is original or copy, you may start to worry about.

Uncertainty is part of identity, I mean that any definition of identity should include some part of uncertainty, as identity is unmeasurable and undefined thing. Will it be me tomorrow? What if I am only a copy? What if my copy will be done with mistakes? All problem of identity appear in the situations when it is uncertain. And sometimes increase of uncertainty may solve this problems, as we do in indexical uncertainty.

Comment author: g_pepper 15 August 2016 09:09:44PM 0 points [-]

But if you don't know who is original or copy, you may start to worry about.

It seems to me that who is the original and who is the copy is irrelevant to my reaction in the leg amputation thought experiment. But, who is me and who is not me is very relevant. For example, suppose I am a copy of the original gpepper. In that case, I would be less unhappy about the original gpepper having his leg cut off than I would be about having my own leg cut off.