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Teleportation problem (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

I think the real argument or concern behind this is, do we have a soul?

If not, then yes, stepping into a transporter means that you die, and that some other version of you continues on, but that doesn't matter because nothing was actually lost.

If we do have a soul, then the question becomes, does your soul survive the transport?

If it does, then it's no worries, it's just a means of transportation.

But if it doesn't, then does the version of you that pops out of the other side have a brand new soul, or is it now soulless?

And finally, how could we ever tell?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I think the first of those approximates my view, just with the added caveat that your consciousness is "something", since we use the word to describe some aspect of our experience even if we don't fully understand it, and if there's no physical basis for anything to have been lost in this process because the copy is the same, that implies to me that your consciousness must have been preserved or recreated as well.

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