Consider this equivalent alternative to the Quantum Russian Roulette problem:
Rather than being put to sleep, the contestants are frozen (we assume the technology exists to defrost people successfully). At this point, all the contestants are dead. They have ceased to exist. The quantum coins are then flipped, creating multiple universes, none of which contain any contestants. Finally, in one particular universe, the bodies of the contestants are revived and the contestants exist once more.
No zombies were ever made and there is no branching of consciousness worldines.
Indeed, you could take two copies of me, reanimate one of them, let him live for a while, and then kill him, and then once you’ve done that reanimate the other copy and let him live. Which one do I experience being?
It depends on who is asking the question “Which one do I experience being?”.
One of the copies answers one way, one of the copies answers the other way. The entity previous to the copying operation experiences pretty much what you’re experiencing right now.
The problem is, that isn’t an intuitively satisfying answer. We have an intuition that demands the answers to these questions, and yes, there are no answers, because the question needs “unasking”. But the process of unasking a question requires more than just saying why it doesn’t make sense, I think. One has to look for a way to satisfy what the intuition was asking for without asking the confused question.
Ok, although there are no “zombie-me’s” created, there are still multiple universes and only one of them is a “pleasant” alternative, i.e. one in which I survive.
Consider this equivalent alternative to the Quantum Russian Roulette problem:
Rather than being put to sleep, the contestants are frozen (we assume the technology exists to defrost people successfully). At this point, all the contestants are dead. They have ceased to exist. The quantum coins are then flipped, creating multiple universes, none of which contain any contestants. Finally, in one particular universe, the bodies of the contestants are revived and the contestants exist once more.
No zombies were ever made and there is no branching of consciousness worldines.
Nice! You can also convert the frozen people into encrypted digital representation written in the structure of carbon bricks for more dramatic effect.
Indeed, you could take two copies of me, reanimate one of them, let him live for a while, and then kill him, and then once you’ve done that reanimate the other copy and let him live. Which one do I experience being?
It depends on who is asking the question “Which one do I experience being?”.
One of the copies answers one way, one of the copies answers the other way. The entity previous to the copying operation experiences pretty much what you’re experiencing right now.
The problem is, that isn’t an intuitively satisfying answer. We have an intuition that demands the answers to these questions, and yes, there are no answers, because the question needs “unasking”. But the process of unasking a question requires more than just saying why it doesn’t make sense, I think. One has to look for a way to satisfy what the intuition was asking for without asking the confused question.
I’m not sure you should use the word “we”. Unless I’m fooling myself, I don’t think I have that intuition at all. (I think I did at one point.)
A question very similar to this was on my UChicago admissions essay. Had to do with teleporters.
Ok, although there are no “zombie-me’s” created, there are still multiple universes and only one of them is a “pleasant” alternative, i.e. one in which I survive.