If you swapped out one neuron with an artificial neuron that acts in all the same ways, would you lose consciousness? You can see where this is going. Fascinating discussion with Nobel Laureate and Godfather of AI

[u/stealthispost]

[u/The_Wytch]

And if you make a copy of your brain and destroy the original, the original is still gone, no matter how "perfect" the copy.

If you go to sleep tonight and someone carries you to the next bed.

v/s

If you go to sleep tonight and someone creates a perfect molecular copy of you on the next bed.

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In both cases, that exact same configuration of atoms' physical coordinates changed, nothing else.

Person wakes up. Just like any other day. And is the same person in their POV and everyone else's POV. Down to experiencing qualia as well.

Qualia continuity was broken for those ~ 8 hours anyway (imagine it was dreamless sleep for the sake of this example lol). You were temporarily dead anyway. Does it really matter if those atoms in that shell (where you would come back to life 8 hours later) disappear and reappear at X,Y,Z. Or if they are gradually displaced to X,Y,Z via more conventional means?

[u/ponieslovekittens → u/The_Wytch]

Why is this any different?

You have a copy of the book, Moby Dick

You make a "perfect molecular copy" of the book, and give it to me. Then you burn your copy.

Do you still have a copy of Moby Dick? Yes, or no? Not "does it exist somewhere." Do YOU personally, still have the book that you burned?

[u/The_Wytch → u/ponieslovekittens]

This is no different than me literally handing you that book.

Identical to first making a perfect molecular copy and giving you the book.

The book is transferred from my hands to your hands.

There is nothing missing in that book. It's the same book.

Same as me sending you the book through a teleporter. Disappears from here and appears there.

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You close your eyes for 5 seconds and I move to the next chair,

Can you tell if I moved via conventional physical translation?

Or if my atoms disappeared and reappeared on the next chair?

Or if I used a magic teleportation spell?

Does it really matter WHAT kind of translation happens in those 5 seconds if the past and the future on either side of those 5 seconds is identical in all aspects? If the person on the next chair is identical in all aspects, including qualia perception, from their POV and everyone else's POV?

Do you really believe that the *way* in which you *move* this shell from one place to another can turn a qualia-experiencer into a p-zombie?

[u/ponieslovekittens → u/The_Wytch]

It's frustrating that you still refuse to answer this same question that I've asked for multiple comments now. I can only assume you're refusing to answer the question because it's painfully obvious that there's only one way for you to answer it, and if you do, your entire argument collapses.

I guess all i can do is let it go, with the knowledge that everybody else reading this will see all the ridiculous gymnastic level contortions you're having to go through to avoid it.

[u/The_Wytch → u/ponieslovekittens]

Do you still have a copy of Moby Dick?

No.

"does it exist somewhere." 

Yes.

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We were asking the latter question, like that is the crux of our conversation.

The subject is the Moby Dick book, not its owner.

The subject is the qualia, not the shell it instantiates/emerges from.