Teleportation
Dec. 15th, 2005 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackQ. If you took every atom in your body, with its current position, momentum, and all relevant quantum numbers, and made an exact copy of it (in essence, made an exact physical replication of yourself, including brain synapses), would you get another you?
A. It's not possible because of quantum.
Q. Suppose it was.
A. Bang! You created you in the same position. Fundamental particles don't overlap like that.
Q. OK, suppose I made the copy in australia or something.
A. Ouch. "You're" moving sideways at 1000mph.
Q. Gah! You know what I mean.
A. Right. Well, the word "you" hasn't been designed for this circumstance, so whether it applies is a matter of personal preference. As for more specific comparisons...
Q. Would it look, act, and to all tests man can devise (except for starting from a different place) be the same as me?
A. Sure. I don't see how not. AFAIK phsiology, thoughts, memories, etc are all expressions your matter. Of course, from that point on, it would develop into a different individual with common experience. A significantly different life could make you both quite different. But only how you would be if you had his life.
Q. But what about a soul?
A. How would someone without a soul act differently? If they affect matter, how come we've never observed it? If not, how can you tell whether any or all people do have souls?
Q. What if the soul influences quantum events we see as truly random to produce macroscopic effects like causing or preventing love?
A. Hmmm, let me get back to you about that.
Q. But... God...
A. How do we have souls? I think anything that can be called a soul is just a fundamental bit of our mind, ie. how our brain is arranged. I think this is exceptionally magical: that something as simple as atoms can come together to form something as amazing as a mind. Pretending a supernatural cause seems to cheapen it to me. But then, I enjoy understanding rainbows (except I don't.) But If souls are caused by God, or by a natural consequence of the creation of a "person", I would expect the copy would also be issued one.
Anyway, questions I'm puzzled by:
1. How do so many people think it wouldn't be you, without any sense of that means? Do people think it doesn't have a soul? Can you describe what that would mean?
2. Could the soul influence quantum events we see as truly random to produce macroscopic effects like causing or preventing love? This is consistent, if silly. I loved it in miss_next's story. Does anyone propose this seriously?
3. Does anyone think if God made souls, or if they're formed by a natural but metaphysical process, a copy wouldn't get one? How about a clone? A twin?
A. It's not possible because of quantum.
Q. Suppose it was.
A. Bang! You created you in the same position. Fundamental particles don't overlap like that.
Q. OK, suppose I made the copy in australia or something.
A. Ouch. "You're" moving sideways at 1000mph.
Q. Gah! You know what I mean.
A. Right. Well, the word "you" hasn't been designed for this circumstance, so whether it applies is a matter of personal preference. As for more specific comparisons...
Q. Would it look, act, and to all tests man can devise (except for starting from a different place) be the same as me?
A. Sure. I don't see how not. AFAIK phsiology, thoughts, memories, etc are all expressions your matter. Of course, from that point on, it would develop into a different individual with common experience. A significantly different life could make you both quite different. But only how you would be if you had his life.
Q. But what about a soul?
A. How would someone without a soul act differently? If they affect matter, how come we've never observed it? If not, how can you tell whether any or all people do have souls?
Q. What if the soul influences quantum events we see as truly random to produce macroscopic effects like causing or preventing love?
A. Hmmm, let me get back to you about that.
Q. But... God...
A. How do we have souls? I think anything that can be called a soul is just a fundamental bit of our mind, ie. how our brain is arranged. I think this is exceptionally magical: that something as simple as atoms can come together to form something as amazing as a mind. Pretending a supernatural cause seems to cheapen it to me. But then, I enjoy understanding rainbows (except I don't.) But If souls are caused by God, or by a natural consequence of the creation of a "person", I would expect the copy would also be issued one.
Anyway, questions I'm puzzled by:
1. How do so many people think it wouldn't be you, without any sense of that means? Do people think it doesn't have a soul? Can you describe what that would mean?
2. Could the soul influence quantum events we see as truly random to produce macroscopic effects like causing or preventing love? This is consistent, if silly. I loved it in miss_next's story. Does anyone propose this seriously?
3. Does anyone think if God made souls, or if they're formed by a natural but metaphysical process, a copy wouldn't get one? How about a clone? A twin?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 03:22 pm (UTC)I understand quantum mechanics about as much as I believe in God.
(S)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 04:32 pm (UTC)I wouldn't have seen it like that: I think I feel a soul should relate to who I am even if external events make me have a greater of lesser effect?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 04:50 pm (UTC)Your soul does relate to who you are, but if you spend your whole life in a cupboard, you're the only one who will ever know.
(S)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 04:55 pm (UTC)