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jhuffman comments on Life Extension versus Replacement - Less Wrong Discussion

13 Post author: Julia_Galef 30 November 2011 01:47AM

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Comment author: jhuffman 01 December 2011 09:34:07PM 0 points [-]

The exact circumstances and memories of a person's life will not repeat but that's just as good an argument for creating new people who will also have unique memories that otherwise would not happen. While some remarkable memories from the past would be in some ways special to me if I can trace any sort of cultural lineage through them, memories from closely intertwined lives would interest me less than other memories that would be completely novel to me.

Comment author: Grognor 01 December 2011 09:51:31PM 1 point [-]

You're right. But here's the thing. I should have said it in my original comment, but the argument holds because learning from history is important, and, as we've all shown, that's REALLY HARD to do when everyone keeps dying. And I also strongly value the will to awesomeness, striving to be better and better (even before I read Tsuyoku Naritai), and I expect that people start at 0 and increase faster than linearly over time. In other words, the utility is still greater for the people who are still alive.