"If everyone has a back-up then the "suicide" bomber would presumably not be
guilty of murder, but only of property damage."
Is it me or does this conversation seem to be skipping the important point
that the backup is not me, but a copy of me. And that if I die, even if a
backup lives on, there is no continuity of conscioussness. The 'Raelians' I
believe get around this important concept by claiming the aliens have some
advanced technology that can transfer 'concioussness' (they might have even
worded it as a soul) in addition to the 'thoughts memories and experiences'
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Walker [mailto:mdwalker@quickclic.net]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 12:26 PM
To: extropians@extropy.org
Subject: Re: neo-luddites are "US Taliban" (was Re: "Cloning
Breakthrough" not one)
----- Original Message -----
From: <hal@finney.org>
> The notion of thwarting attempts to escape justice via suicide is new
> to me. What would you do if you restored a suicide bomber from a backup?
> There wouldn't be much point in giving him the death penalty. So what
> is the idea, would you torture him? That doesn't seem very enlightened.
>
>
The article does not seem to carry through with its own logic. If everyone
has a back-up then the "suicide" bomber would presumably not be guilty of
murder, but only of property damage. In a world with back-ups and nano to
fix the damage at the WTC, bin Laden-type terrorists might receive only a
100 hours of community service for slightly inconveniencing a number of
people. In response to your general point, I think there would be a
temptation to restore earlier versions of criminals to give them a second
chance. (It can't be that they are evil by nature, so the thinking goes, we
as a society (or species) must have failed them so how).
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