From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Tue Jul 01 2003 - 11:57:48 MDT
We can combine Lee's proposal of a machine which (potentially) destroys
and re-creates your consciousness 100 times a second with the idea of
evolution evolving consciousness to produce a horrific concept: a world
which has evolved consciousness which works like Lee's machine!
In this bizarre world (call it World X), animals and intelligent beings
are conscious as they are in our world, but due to a quirk of their brain
chemistry, their consciousness is destroyed and re-created 100 times a
second. Yet this has no impact on their behavior, because it happens so
quickly.
Without their knowledge, slaughter and death is occuring on a horrendous
scale, with every conscious being on World X dying 100 times a second.
The terrible part is, since this does not affect their behavior, there
is no reason for evolution to avoid this outcome. A being which has
continuous, connected consciousness, like us, has no survival advantage
over one who suffers the fate of having his consciousness constantly
being destroyed. Therefore there is a substantial chance that worlds
where consciousness evolves may indeed be just like World X. Thank
goodness that we were one of the lucky worlds!
In fact, I just had a horrifying thought... too terrible to share with
others... about our own world. I shudder to even imagine it. But could
it be true?
Hal
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