Whether computer-simulated minds or people from other universes (or beyond the event horizon in this post) have subjective experiences is essentially the reference class problem, a category of observers that “I could be” in anthropic arguments: Whether the reference class should include them.
I have a major problem with this “observation selection” type of anthropic reasoning, which pretty much is all that ever gets discussed such as SSA, SIA and their variants. In my opinion, there isn’t any valid reference class. Each person’s perspective, e.g. who I am, when is now etc, is primitive. Not something to be explained by reasoning. There is no logical explanation or deduction for it. The first-person is unique, and subjective experience is intrinsic to the first-person perspective only.
We can all imagine thinking from other people’s perspectives. Do you think it is ethically relevant to reason from the perspective of a simulated mind? If so, then you should consider them conscious. Otherwise they are not. But as perspectives are primitive, these types of questions can only be answered by stipulations. Not as a conclusion from some carefully conducted reasoning. Rationality cannot provide any answer here.
Whether computer-simulated minds or people from other universes (or beyond the event horizon in this post) have subjective experiences is essentially the reference class problem, a category of observers that “I could be” in anthropic arguments: Whether the reference class should include them.
I have a major problem with this “observation selection” type of anthropic reasoning, which pretty much is all that ever gets discussed such as SSA, SIA and their variants. In my opinion, there isn’t any valid reference class. Each person’s perspective, e.g. who I am, when is now etc, is primitive. Not something to be explained by reasoning. There is no logical explanation or deduction for it. The first-person is unique, and subjective experience is intrinsic to the first-person perspective only.
We can all imagine thinking from other people’s perspectives. Do you think it is ethically relevant to reason from the perspective of a simulated mind? If so, then you should consider them conscious. Otherwise they are not. But as perspectives are primitive, these types of questions can only be answered by stipulations. Not as a conclusion from some carefully conducted reasoning. Rationality cannot provide any answer here.