Comment on Life Extension versus Replacement

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:34:27 GMT

1. Create an upload of Jayson Virissimo (for the purpose of getting more time to think).

2. Explain to him, in full detail, the mental states of two people.

3. Ask him how he would choose if he could either cause the first person to exist with probability p or the second person to exist with probability q, in terms of p and q.

At best, this is a meta-method, rather than a method for interpersonal utility comparisons, since I still don't know which method my uploaded-self would use when choosing between the alternatives.

At worst, this would only tell us how much utility my uploaded-self gets from (probably) causing a person to exist with a particular mental state and is not actually an interpersonal utility comparison between the two persons.

Discuss