Separate Copies Contribute Separately to One's Runtime

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@rawbw.com)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2008 - 07:23:46 MST


Krekoski writes

> Lets say though that somehow, an abstraction of my atomic structure/energy
> is sufficient for consciousness, that such structure is conscious in and of itself.

(I myself would say that it must get runtime, i.e., be executed on a computer,
biological, or silicon, or other, in order to be conscious. Frozen data, stored
somewhere in a warehouse, no matter how detailed, are not conscious.)

> What if we were to create n clones of me, utilizing this abstraction as input
> into a program, lets further say that such clones are implemented in a computer
> program, and all are subject to the same internal environment.

Fine.

> Lets also say that each clone is housed in a small computer, maybe
> 10cm x 10cm x 10cm in size. It's not important. If we create several
> instantiations of this program, several of these computers so to speak,
> and housed them in the same building. would there only be one
> instantiation of consciousness,

No, as causally separate process, each is separately conscious,
even if isomorphic (according to me).

> given that its the same structure, even though each instantiation of
> this structure is not causally interactive with any of the others, or
> are there multiple consciousnesses?

Let's say that you are being implemented on Earth right now by
a computer (we live in a local simulation), and there is an identical
you being emulated *exactly* identically on a computer around
Proxima Centauri. These processes are outside each other's
light cone, and are causally distinct. "You" at Proxima are unaffected
by, say, the unfortunate demise of "you" on Earth.

Lee



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