Thread: Teleportation & Self-Identity

Suppose there existed a “teleporting” machine that worked by scanning your body and creating an exact duplicate of you, atom by atom. Assume that the replica would have the same personality and memories that you have (that is, don’t consider the possibility of your selfhood residing in an inmaterial soul) and that the procedure is instantaneous, so from the point of view of the replica it has just been teleported, having a continuous experience from being at one place to being at another. Then, is there any reason to consider “you” to be the version of you that remains at the same place, instead of the replica? If the machine works by killing the original “you” at the same time that creating the replica, is stepping in the machine a form of suicide or just a convenient way of transportation?

So would "you" die, if you were destroyed and an exact replica was instantly created somewhere else? Would "you" die, if the replica was created 5-20 seconds before the original you would be destroyed?

I haven't reached any conclusions yet, but the logic and fact seem to point toward a new concept of self-identity. This article shows that the mind is not all-knowing and would probably not notice being destroyed and rebuild a few years or seconds later.

So if we had two exact copies of ie you, the reader of this post, killing one of you wouldn't matter, you would live on. Or would you? One person would still die and it seems to me that they're both you. But if you both have the same conciousness and other atributes, it wouldn't matter who i'd kill.

Well that's enough for me, i'd be happy to hear your opinions, sorry for killing you btw.

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Suppose there existed a “teleporting” machine that worked by scanning your body and creating an exact duplicate of you, atom by atom. Assume that the replica would have the same personality and memories that you have (that is, don’t consider the possibility of your selfhood residing in an inmaterial soul) and that the procedure is instantaneous, so from the point of view of the replica it has just been teleported, having a continuous experience from being at one place to being at another. Then, is there any reason to consider “you” to be the version of you that remains at the same place, instead of the replica? If the machine works by killing the original “you” at the same time that creating the replica, is stepping in the machine a form of suicide or just a convenient way of transportation?

So would "you" die, if you were destroyed and an exact replica was instantly created somewhere else? Would "you" die, if the replica was created 5-20 seconds before the original you would be destroyed?

I haven't reached any conclusions yet, but the logic and fact seem to point toward a new concept of self-identity. This article shows that the mind is not all-knowing and would probably not notice being destroyed and rebuild a few years or seconds later.

So if we had two exact copies of ie you, the reader of this post, killing one of you wouldn't matter, you would live on. Or would you? One person would still die and it seems to me that they're both you. But if you both have the same conciousness and other atributes, it wouldn't matter who i'd kill.

Well that's enough for me, i'd be happy to hear your opinions, sorry for killing you btw.

You would be dead. Somebody else would be alive with all your memories and thoughts, but you'd be dead. It wouldn't be the same person. You would end when you used the device. It's the same as cloning to an extent. If the same scan was done and a clone was created but you were not destroyed, it would not be you, but a copy. Destroying the original would make no difference to this.
This might make no difference to family or friends but, put simply, you'd be dead.

I disagree, if the machine created two of you then there would be two of "you". If the duplicate had exactly the same quantum mechanical information as you, it would be identical and there would be two of you. From there on you would lead different lives but "you" would be in two. think of the Multiverse. This process already takes place according to any of the levels of multiverse (1-4). Are the other "you's" not real somehow?

You can't step into a river twice. Why not? Because you are constantly changing. Every moment holds a new and unique you. So whether you are teleported, replicated, or just watching your nail polish dry, you're somebody other than before.

Originally Posted by Olly

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Suppose there existed a “teleporting” machine that worked by scanning your body and creating an exact duplicate of you, atom by atom. Assume that the replica would have the same personality and memories that you have (that is, don’t consider the possibility of your selfhood residing in an inmaterial soul) and that the procedure is instantaneous, so from the point of view of the replica it has just been teleported, having a continuous experience from being at one place to being at another. Then, is there any reason to consider “you” to be the version of you that remains at the same place, instead of the replica? If the machine works by killing the original “you” at the same time that creating the replica, is stepping in the machine a form of suicide or just a convenient way of transportation?

So would "you" die, if you were destroyed and an exact replica was instantly created somewhere else? Would "you" die, if the replica was created 5-20 seconds before the original you would be destroyed?

I haven't reached any conclusions yet, but the logic and fact seem to point toward a new concept of self-identity. This article shows that the mind is not all-knowing and would probably not notice being destroyed and rebuild a few years or seconds later.

So if we had two exact copies of ie you, the reader of this post, killing one of you wouldn't matter, you would live on. Or would you? One person would still die and it seems to me that they're both you. But if you both have the same conciousness and other atributes, it wouldn't matter who i'd kill.

Well that's enough for me, i'd be happy to hear your opinions, sorry for killing you btw.

You would be dead. Somebody else would be alive with all your memories and thoughts, but you'd be dead. It wouldn't be the same person. You would end when you used the device. It's the same as cloning to an extent. If the same scan was done and a clone was created but you were not destroyed, it would not be you, but a copy. Destroying the original would make no difference to this.
This might make no difference to family or friends but, put simply, you'd be dead.

You wouldn't be dead. The brain pattern that is "you" has been exactly duplicated at the moment before the original was destroyed. If you weren't destroyed at that exact moment, there would be two of "you". These two of "you" would become slightly different, because they are in different places, experiencing different things. If for example I knocked you out and you were unconscious and I would scan you, while you're unconscious and then duplicate you (duplicate is also unconscious) and I'd switch your bodied and kill one of you, it wouldn't matter, your brain pattern that makes you "you" has not changed and would be the same, you would not die, unless you were conscious and saw that there is another "you".

Seems right, right?