It seems to me that once the copy is made of you, then immediately you and your copy’s histories will begin to diverge. So, you and your copy clearly have distinct identities. However, it seems that both have an equal claim on the “pre-copy you” identity.
This is indeed an interesting arrangement and it may one day be of practical importance—the scenario described in Robin Hanson’s The Age of Em involves large quantities of copies of a comparatively small number of biological people. Even if uploading can’t be done in a manner that is non-destructive to the original, or even if the uploading process creates a less-than-exact copy of the original, it would seem like once a person is uploaded, it should be possible to make exact copies of the EM non-destructively.
You have two beings with the same history and same memories and same bodies and same claim to possessions/friends/legal status/partners walking around in the world? This has never happened in the history of the Earth!
Actually, identical twins are a special case of this—where the copy is made shortly after conception. (Albeit because the copy is made so early, there are no shared memories, possessions, etc.).
It seems to me that once the copy is made of you, then immediately you and your copy’s histories will begin to diverge. So, you and your copy clearly have distinct identities. However, it seems that both have an equal claim on the “pre-copy you” identity.
This is indeed an interesting arrangement and it may one day be of practical importance—the scenario described in Robin Hanson’s The Age of Em involves large quantities of copies of a comparatively small number of biological people. Even if uploading can’t be done in a manner that is non-destructive to the original, or even if the uploading process creates a less-than-exact copy of the original, it would seem like once a person is uploaded, it should be possible to make exact copies of the EM non-destructively.
Actually, identical twins are a special case of this—where the copy is made shortly after conception. (Albeit because the copy is made so early, there are no shared memories, possessions, etc.).