[FRIAM] (no subject)

[steve smith]

>  I
> don't believe that the being that results, while itself thinking that
> it is the same "I" as me, will be. It can't be, as a dicontinuity has
> occured--"I" might even have lived a while after the "copy" was
> stored. So, even though my thoughts might go on, and something that
> thinks it's me goes on as if it was me, the truth is that "I"--the me
> that is behind my eyes-- is dead.
>

My favorite thought experiment on this topic is the one of 
malfunctioning Star Trek transporter... your original body/brain gets 
scanned, transmitted and reconstituted.   The original fails to be 
destroyed (assuming non-destructive read/scan)... now there are two.. 
.neither is neccesarily aware of the other... in theory, both feel like 
the original...

I don't believe this technology is likely to occur before we become 
(somehow) sophisticated enough to not want to  or care to do such 
things... for other reasons...