Atheists question about the Duplicates paradox:?

Question

Assuming one day there exists a way for a teleportation device to map every molecule and rebuild it at a remote location.

Would you be ok with dying on one side to have the other side rebuild you exactly the same, would you exist at that point?

What if the device malfunctioned and now there are two of you, which is the subjective you? Are you both just delusions? Would you die so the other one can continue to live, and would that in result end your existence?

Answer 1

You are describing an old Star Trek episode where Capt Kirk gets duplicted....go watch that for your answers.....

Answer 2

I know what you are talking about and the device that is being tested has only moved one atom and would take a million years to move something the size of a human. It is more of what you would call a cloning machine not a teleportration device. Person A who is leaving the Earth going to planet Z big time far away from here would be created as person B. Now there are two of them and they would no longer be the same person. You would have two people with the same memories. Person A and person B would live on not knowing if the other is alive or not. So this would not be traveling but creating a new life on in a far away place.

Person A nor Person B has to die because they are not the same person. If you was to time travle back to yesterday then there would be a problem because both of you would would be the same person. You would even know you was going to meet your self because you did it yesterday lol. In this case one or the other has to go. If you go back and kill your self yesterday you would indeed have a paradox and could end space and time. Don't do it. Ok..

Answer 3

Other responders have noted the difficulties in constructing a teleporter. There is no obvious reason why one would have to die in one location if the teleportation produced a replica in another; if it were true teleportation, such that a body is moved in toto, then the concept of death does not even apply: you were alive in place A, and now you are alive in place B; what's not to like? If a duplication occurs, each clone will be its own subjective self, and will live independently. An interesting case arises if the clones should meet; they could have quite an interesting discussion of what each has done since the bifurcation.

Answer 4

This is the "Duplicates Paradox". No duplicate can be you since it is in a different location. You are where you are, the duplicate is not. This is a huge mystery because common sense tells us everything we think and feel should come from our brain circuits alone. However, it also comes from our location too, as the Duplicates Paradox suggests. Position must be a non-material ingredient of consciousness. Perhaps "self" is entirely non-material and follows the body. Something very strange is going on

Answer 5

As you may already know, there is a Hugo-award winning story by James Patrick Kelley called "Think Like a Dinosaur," in which this situation occurs. It was made into an episode of "The Outer Limits." If you're not familiar with it, find it. You won't be disappointed.

Would I do it? I don't know. Probably not. Then again, I don't even like to fly. If it malfunctioned, which one is "me?" I suppose they both are.

This question should also be posed to Christians as having a duplicate begs the question "where is the soul?"

Answer 6

Let me tell you and the atheists a secret. There is a God and He, not her, has a little program underway in which He is creating a new heaven and a new earth.

This creation started with the body He prepared for Himself 2,000 years ago in a small town . To begin this creation, God injected Himself physically into time. Behold I come in the volume of the Book it is written, a body thou hast prepared for me. To this Jesus, by the prophet Isiah, were prescribed the names Wonderfull, Counselor, the Mighty God. the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He was all those things in the flesh 2,000 years ago and He is all those things in the Holy Spirit ( the pillar of fire, the Great I ' Am, the Shechinah Glory) today.

Now God created time. Time for us finite beings is a reality, but God is timeless. Therefore to inject Himself into time was for God to inject Himself, so to speak, into His own virtual reality. The purpose for this was to establish a new creation wherein dwells perfection. The purpose of dwelling in a people is to clone Himself. And it is written that He will sum up all things in heaven and earth in Christ.

So while you speculate on a teleportation device there are literally millions of people on the planet undergoing a program change which is not subject to malfunctions, In this program you must die on this side to meet the finished you on the other. That finished you was in the mind of God to begin with. So indeed if you have the Life of God necessary to make the change you will no longer be a virtual being in a finite game; but an eternal being in an endless unfolding. You might consider working in Gods' virtual reality instead of your own virtual paradox; which is once removed from the only game in town.

Answer 7

An interesting prospect.

You know, there has been progress in the direction of science. In Austria, a single atom was teleported. That was a hard task to accomplish. To replicate an entire human body, with all of its intricacies, would require a computer so powerful it's mind boggling.

Personally, I would need to see some successfull test runs before I throw myself in the machine.

Answer 8

It seems that you give importance to the human body as a need for existence. If the human body dies what makes you think that your mind will not exist apart from it.
The mind is inherently a delusion. Everything you see, think, feel, etc is a creation of the mind. Even the concept of a mind is a creation of the mind. The concept of no mind is a creation of the mind. So why wouldn't a concept of two minds not be a creation of the mind.

Answer 9

More likely there would be the ability to clone yourself from your own DNA. At that point, your other "you" would be somebody that was exactly like you but their brain patterns would evolve separately, so it's like asking would you die for your identical twin brother or sister. Of course not. On the other hand, if one day you could build such a device, to exactly map every molecule in your body, it would be a way to exist forever. No thanks. Living forever is highly overrated. And wtf has this to do with not believing in the sky fairy?

Answer 10

Good question!

I would have no problem with the molecules or DNA of this body being reproduced.

Nor would I have a problem with there being two physical bodies that resemble me.

What is subjective can not be replicated. Just as identical twins have different DNA, so too would such hypothetical entities be different beings.

Answer 11

Those are questions that no one can truly give you an answer to. Good luck, though. I can suggest a very good book that deals with the matter. It's called 'The Future of Space-time'...i believe. It contains five essays written by some very brilliant cosmologists and physicists. I will get back to you with a site for the book.