this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
447 points (95.0% liked)
Programmer Humor
32495 readers
664 users here now
Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)
Rules:
- Posts must be relevant to programming, programmers, or computer science.
- No NSFW content.
- Jokes must be in good taste. No hate speech, bigotry, etc.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Ahh, but here's the question. Who are you? The you who did the upload, or the you that got uploaded, retaining the memories of everything you did before the upload? Go on, flip that coin.
If you are the version doing the upload, you're staying behind. The other "you" pops into existence feeling as if THEY are the original, so from their perspective, it's as if they won the coin flip.
But the original CANNOT win that coinflip...
But like.. do I care? "I" will survive, even if I'm not the one who does the surviving.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I would. The knowledge that "A" me is out there, somewhere, safe and sound, is uplifting, but it's still quite chilling to realize you are staying wherever the hell you are. At least we die after enough time has passed because our bodies decay.
onthulling
The SOMA protagonist wasn't that lucky...Is it chilling? I was already going to stay where I am, whether I made a copy or not. Sharding off a replica to go on for me would be strictly better than not doing that
I think it's both for me, which I think is what you might be saying as well. I would absolutely push the button to create the copy, or whatever, because I think I would derive satisfaction from creating a life (identical to mine, no less) that was free of the circumstance I was in, which must have been dire. However, I definitely don't consider that instance "me" even if I do consider the copy a legitimate, separate version of "me", so I don't feel that I have perpetuated my own instance, leaving me in whatever fight-or-flight terror I was in to cause the scenario in the first place.
What do you mean he wasn't so lucky, after all he lived out his live in Toronto. That he did a brain scan at some point of his life doesn't matter. Sucks for the robot who thought he was him.
which instance of theseu's ship am I?