🚀 go-pugleaf

The "teleport me by duping" (Xerox) versus "teleport me by destroying and
recreating" (Phoenix) raises the fundamental question of when does someone
die in a society with these rather extensive capabilities.   Offhand, death
would have to be defined by information loss, as hinted by Eric in EoC when
he referred to central nervous system damage as irreversible.

My girlfriend, who is an emergency room nurse, considered the Phoenix case
carefully and then likened it to the emotional trauma someone who loses a
limb goes through.  You feel sad that you lost that physical thing you
inhabited, but you carry on as usual.

The line of experience is unbroken and hence they can't be said to have
died.

Death would become finer grained along with the definition of the
individual.  E.g. if you forked yourself and the copy died then the unique
part of that individual can certainly be said to have died.

(ron)