I’m not trying to back you into a corner, but it seems like your responses to #1 and #3 indicate that you value the original more than the others, which seems to imply that the copies would be less you. From your answer to #2, I came up with another question. Would you value uploading and copying just as much if somehow the copies were P-zombies? It seems like your answers to #1-3 would be the same in that case.
I don’t value the original over the others, but I do value me over not-me (even in situations where I can’t really justify that choice beyond pure provincialism).
A hypothetical copy of me created in the future is just as much me (hypothetically) as the actual future me is, but a hypothetical already-created copy of a past me is not me. The situation is perfectly symmetrical; if someone makes a copy of me and asks the copy the question in #1, I give the same answer as when they ask the original.
I have trouble answering the P-zombie question, since I consider P-zombies an incoherent idea. I mean, if I can’t tell the difference between P-zombies and genuine people, then I react to my copies just the same as if they were genuine people… how could I do anything else?
I’m not trying to back you into a corner, but it seems like your responses to #1 and #3 indicate that you value the original more than the others, which seems to imply that the copies would be less you. From your answer to #2, I came up with another question. Would you value uploading and copying just as much if somehow the copies were P-zombies? It seems like your answers to #1-3 would be the same in that case.
Thanks for being so accommodating, really.
I don’t value the original over the others, but I do value me over not-me (even in situations where I can’t really justify that choice beyond pure provincialism).
A hypothetical copy of me created in the future is just as much me (hypothetically) as the actual future me is, but a hypothetical already-created copy of a past me is not me. The situation is perfectly symmetrical; if someone makes a copy of me and asks the copy the question in #1, I give the same answer as when they ask the original.
I have trouble answering the P-zombie question, since I consider P-zombies an incoherent idea. I mean, if I can’t tell the difference between P-zombies and genuine people, then I react to my copies just the same as if they were genuine people… how could I do anything else?