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| View Poll Results: Number of dates w/ no action before you say: Enough is enough. | |||
| 1-3 |
   
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17 | 18.09% |
| 4-6 |
  
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53 | 56.38% |
| 7 |
  
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7 | 7.45% |
| For Christ's sake man, move on already! |
  
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3 | 3.19% |
| What kind of loser needs to go on a date to get laid? |
  
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14 | 14.89% |
| Voters: 94. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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#1
03-06-2007, 09:03 PM
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your reality and information (with poll)
On this board we sometimes discuss the interplay between reality, consciousness, and information. I present here a hypothetical designed to get you to confront exactly how much of 'you' is really just information.
The problem is this -- we've constructed something like a star trek transporter. Except, it doesn't disassemble you, transmit your energy and re-assemble you. Instead, it does the following: It measures the state of your body precisely (the state of all the particles in your body) -- this is a very invasive procedure, though, so you are quickly and almost painlessly destroyed. What is left is the physical remains of your body on the floor -- the stuff that used to be you. However, another blob of chemicals is waiting in the next chamber, in quite a special state. It's state is such that it can be manipulated to create a new/identical version of 'you' with the information gained from the measurement process -- you retain all memories, etc that you had before. (this setup is somewhat analogous to what is known as 'quantum teleportation') The question is, would you use such a device for travel (assuming perfect reliability)? In a very real sense, your body dies and is left on the floor after each use. However, there is always a 'perfect' replacement. I think your answer depends on whether you think of yourself as 'information only' or whether you ascribe significance to the actual matter that makes up your body/mind, and the act of 'taking the life from it.' 
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#5
03-06-2007, 09:41 PM
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Re: your reality and information (with poll)
[ QUOTE ]
Do we get to play that star trek "desperate fight to the death" music in the background? [/ QUOTE ] No, but whatever song was playing the bar during the referenced scene in "The Fly" is fair game.
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#8
03-06-2007, 09:48 PM
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Re: your reality and information (with poll)
[ QUOTE ]
Did the version in "the fly" actually terminate "occupant #1" and leave the physical remains? It's been a long time, but I don't remember that. [/ QUOTE ] No it didn't. But I'm guessing that yours could terminate 2 occupants mistakenly and morph them together. I said I'd do it anyhow - what more do you want?
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#9
03-06-2007, 09:54 PM
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Re: your reality and information (with poll)
I think the closest movie scenario is probably "the 6th day", though it wasn't exactly a transporter. People didn't mind dying as long as they could preserve their "mental state" electronically sometime before their death, and put it in a clone. Kind of a pity the movie sucked so badly.
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