Now I’m confused. I’d expected when you described the scenario that it’s obvious that the “real” Dr. Evil cannot tell whether he’s the real one or a clone. So his clones _are_ definitely him. If he doesn’t care about clones, even if he knows that some version(s) of him are the clone, then he just presses the button, right?
Or are you saying that only the cloned versions of him care about the clones? I don’t think that’s coherent.
“If he doesn’t care about clones, even if he knows that some version(s) of him are the clone, then he just presses the button, right?”—No, because if it turns out that he is actually a clone, he will be tortured.
“Or are you saying that only the cloned versions of him care about the clones?”—Yes, Dr Evil only cares about Dr Evil, Dr Evil Clone #1 only cares about Dr Evil Clone #1, Dr Evil Clone #2 only cares about Dr Evil Clone #2 ect. Why isn’t that coherent?
“So his clones _are_ definitely him”—Why? The clones could have completely different backstories from the original Dr Evil, just so long that they (the clones themselves) can’t tell. That suffices to create the desired ambiguity.
Now I’m confused. I’d expected when you described the scenario that it’s obvious that the “real” Dr. Evil cannot tell whether he’s the real one or a clone. So his clones _are_ definitely him. If he doesn’t care about clones, even if he knows that some version(s) of him are the clone, then he just presses the button, right?
Or are you saying that only the cloned versions of him care about the clones? I don’t think that’s coherent.
“If he doesn’t care about clones, even if he knows that some version(s) of him are the clone, then he just presses the button, right?”—No, because if it turns out that he is actually a clone, he will be tortured.
“Or are you saying that only the cloned versions of him care about the clones?”—Yes, Dr Evil only cares about Dr Evil, Dr Evil Clone #1 only cares about Dr Evil Clone #1, Dr Evil Clone #2 only cares about Dr Evil Clone #2 ect. Why isn’t that coherent?
“So his clones _are_ definitely him”—Why? The clones could have completely different backstories from the original Dr Evil, just so long that they (the clones themselves) can’t tell. That suffices to create the desired ambiguity.