> Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> >That sounds nice, but it might not be easy to do.
>
> Indeed, but I didn't say it would be easy.
>
> >First, some of the entities might suffer a gradual decline (like
> >humans with Alzheimer's disease), would it be nice to save backup
> >copies of their final, degraded state or should one save copies
> >from an earlier state? If so, why just one, why not several?
>
> When the creator has enough power to simulate a universe, he most
> also have enough power to merge the backup copies of earlier states
> with the later backups of the degraded states, and to construct
> from those multiple states a "healthy" state, containing all memories
> of the being. Of course one has to define what a "healthy" state is
> first.
One also has to contend with the fact that a certain individual in
this "healthy" state will simultaneously remember:
* the semi-trailer truck bearing down on him as he lays helpless;
* the radio announcer talking about the incoming nuclear missiles;
* the stupid stunt he pulled as a college student, involving the
ROTC building and a bit of explosive that went off much too soon;
* the college roommate that he talked out of blowing up the ROTC
building;
* the pain of a fatal childhood illness;
* many years of happy marriage;
* and several other interesting, mutually contradictory life
experiences.
If you would describe someone trying to reconcile all these different
memories -- all of which are true -- as "healthy", then you have a
much different definition of that term than I do.
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