Covalent bonds with external atoms are just one form of “correlation with the environment”.
I wish to postulate a perfect copy, in the sense that the internal correlations are identical to the original, but in which the correlations to the rest of the universe are different (e.g. “on Mars” rather than “on Earth”).
There is some confusion here in the switching between individual configurations, and configuration space. An atom is already a blob in configuration space (e.g. “one electron in the ground-state orbital”) rather than a single configuration, with respect to a particle basis.
While we cannot individuate particles in a relative configuration, we can individuate wave packets traveling in relative configuration space. And since even an atom already exists at that level, it is far from clear to me that the attempt to abandon continuity of identity carries over to complicated structures.
Covalent bonds with external atoms are just one form of “correlation with the environment”.
I wish to postulate a perfect copy, in the sense that the internal correlations are identical to the original, but in which the correlations to the rest of the universe are different (e.g. “on Mars” rather than “on Earth”).
There is some confusion here in the switching between individual configurations, and configuration space. An atom is already a blob in configuration space (e.g. “one electron in the ground-state orbital”) rather than a single configuration, with respect to a particle basis.
While we cannot individuate particles in a relative configuration, we can individuate wave packets traveling in relative configuration space. And since even an atom already exists at that level, it is far from clear to me that the attempt to abandon continuity of identity carries over to complicated structures.