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entirelyuseless comments on Open thread, Nov. 16 - Nov. 22, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (185)
The point is that "so and so is me" is never an objective fact at all. So if the child has no chance of being you, neither does the upload. If you are saying that you can identify with the upload, that is not in any objective sense different from identifying with your child, or identifying with some random future human and calling that a reincarnated version of yourself.
And I don't object to any of that; I think it may well be true that it is objectively just as good to have a child and then to die, as to continue to live yourself, or to upload yourself and die bodily. As you say, the real issue is managing your feelings, and it is just a question of what works for you. There is no reason to argue that having children shouldn't be a reasonable strategy for other people, even if it is not for you.
Granted, and particularly true, I'd like to think, for rationalists.
It is reasonable to argue that any social/practical aspect of yourself also exists in others, and that the most rational thing to do is to a) confirm that this is a objectively good thing and b) work to spread it throughout the population. This is a good reason to view works of art, scientific work, and children as valid forms of immortality. This is particularly useful to focus on if you expect to die before immortality breakthroughs happen, but as a general outlook on life it might be more socially (and economically) productive than any other. As some authors have pointed out, immortality of the individual might equal the stagnation of society.
Accepting death of the self might be the best way forward for society, but it is a hard goal to achieve.