I’m not convinced this distinction holds up all that well. For example, would you say that software “exists”? How about supply functions? Nations? Boeing 747s? People? Force fields?
For example, would you say that software “exists”?
No. But it is real. Software is a pattern by which electrons, magnetic fields, or photochemically-active media are constrained. The software itself is never a thing you can touch, hold, see, or smell, or taste; it never at any point is ever capable of directly interacting with anything. Just like you and me; we are not our bodies; nor our brains; nor the electrons or chemicals that flow through the brains. We are patterns those things are constrained by. I am the unique pattern that, in times past, created the password to the LW account, Logos01; and you the pattern that (I presume) created Eugine_Nier. But neither of us, physically, exist. This is important to notions of substrate-independence; where goes your pattern, is you. (Remember your Ship of Theseus problem.)
Right now I am downloading onto a VM on my workstation the 12.04 release of Lubuntu. This software is being pulled over ethernet to be delivered to a virtual harddrive image where it will be configured and installed. If I say I have LibreOffice installed too, it is clear I am talking about a specific release/instance/copy. We talk about identity in terms of software “Have you tried the latest Halo? It’s awesome! ^_^”—and two people can apparently own exactly the same game. But of course these are multiple copies of the pattern. It’s even possible to talk about backups and restores. This is because the only thing that matters about defining whether something is or is not the software is that pattern.
Nations?
Real but do not exist. If every last person of the US packed their bags and got onto a rocket and shot themselves to Mars, it’d still be the United States of America. Even if every last person died while on that rocket and their kids were the ones who took over for them. Substrate independence once again demonstrates this.
Boeing 747s?
Exist. It is possible to see/hear/touch/smell/taste a Boeing 747 (I hear they taste like burnt chocolate and chicken.) It is possible for two Boeing 747′s to be run into one another; or for a comet to strike one. It is not possible for a factory to churn out political constructs or minds. (Though it is possible for them to assemble all the pieces that would, when activated, allow for the presence of a mind.)
While you CAN take all the individual components of a Boeing 747 apart and put them back together again to make the same object; or over time transfer pieces into / from it (Theseus’s Grandfather’s Axe) -- what you can’t do is just “declare” a different physical object to BE that original Boeing 747. You can’t have five of the same Boeing 747. That is because it is a thing which directly interacts with other things.
People?
See the above. If some temporal accident causes me to split into two, both of those people would still be ME. (Though their cohabitating the same space would cause divergence of identity over time.) Again, this is because what I physically am is irrelevant to determining my identity (and identity is the conformance to a specific pattern).
Force fields?
“In physics a force field is a vector field that describes a non-contact force acting on a particle at various positions in space.” You see that word, “acting”? To “act upon” something is quite literally definitional to being said to “interact with” a thing. By the definition I have provided of ‘exists’, and the definition of ‘force field’ as found on Wikipedia, force fields definitionally exist.
I’m not convinced this distinction holds up all that well. For example, would you say that software “exists”? How about supply functions? Nations? Boeing 747s? People? Force fields?
Edit: yes, what gRR said.
No. But it is real. Software is a pattern by which electrons, magnetic fields, or photochemically-active media are constrained. The software itself is never a thing you can touch, hold, see, or smell, or taste; it never at any point is ever capable of directly interacting with anything. Just like you and me; we are not our bodies; nor our brains; nor the electrons or chemicals that flow through the brains. We are patterns those things are constrained by. I am the unique pattern that, in times past, created the password to the LW account, Logos01; and you the pattern that (I presume) created Eugine_Nier. But neither of us, physically, exist. This is important to notions of substrate-independence; where goes your pattern, is you. (Remember your Ship of Theseus problem.)
Right now I am downloading onto a VM on my workstation the 12.04 release of Lubuntu. This software is being pulled over ethernet to be delivered to a virtual harddrive image where it will be configured and installed. If I say I have LibreOffice installed too, it is clear I am talking about a specific release/instance/copy. We talk about identity in terms of software “Have you tried the latest Halo? It’s awesome! ^_^”—and two people can apparently own exactly the same game. But of course these are multiple copies of the pattern. It’s even possible to talk about backups and restores. This is because the only thing that matters about defining whether something is or is not the software is that pattern.
Real but do not exist. If every last person of the US packed their bags and got onto a rocket and shot themselves to Mars, it’d still be the United States of America. Even if every last person died while on that rocket and their kids were the ones who took over for them. Substrate independence once again demonstrates this.
Exist. It is possible to see/hear/touch/smell/taste a Boeing 747 (I hear they taste like burnt chocolate and chicken.) It is possible for two Boeing 747′s to be run into one another; or for a comet to strike one. It is not possible for a factory to churn out political constructs or minds. (Though it is possible for them to assemble all the pieces that would, when activated, allow for the presence of a mind.)
While you CAN take all the individual components of a Boeing 747 apart and put them back together again to make the same object; or over time transfer pieces into / from it (Theseus’s Grandfather’s Axe) -- what you can’t do is just “declare” a different physical object to BE that original Boeing 747. You can’t have five of the same Boeing 747. That is because it is a thing which directly interacts with other things.
See the above. If some temporal accident causes me to split into two, both of those people would still be ME. (Though their cohabitating the same space would cause divergence of identity over time.) Again, this is because what I physically am is irrelevant to determining my identity (and identity is the conformance to a specific pattern).
“In physics a force field is a vector field that describes a non-contact force acting on a particle at various positions in space.” You see that word, “acting”? To “act upon” something is quite literally definitional to being said to “interact with” a thing. By the definition I have provided of ‘exists’, and the definition of ‘force field’ as found on Wikipedia, force fields definitionally exist.