The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72974   Message #1262458
Posted By: GUEST,Russ
02-Sep-04 - 08:54 AM
Thread Name: BS: Hypothetical semi-philosophical question
Subject: RE: BS: Hypothetical semi-philosophical question
CarolC,

what wolfgang said, only more

You say that one would "see, hear, smell, etc. all of the things you had done". In other words one would replay ones life. Would that be in real time or burst mode?

Then you go on to say that one would repeat "everything that every other person your actions and decisions effected in any way while you were still alive".

if you take the butterfly hypothesis seriously you'd have to relive the lives of everybody on earth. Perhaps every sentient being in the galaxy, universe, whatever.

Even assuming a minimal average lifespan, billions of earth lives will require billions of years to repeat. It wouldn't take a large average lifespan to exceed the currently expected life of the known universe.

The Key question however is would you be aware that you were repeating?

If you weren't aware and you knew you wouldn't be aware and you knew you would be repeating everybody's life anyway why would you do anything differently?

If you were aware, it sounds like the most horrific case of multiple personality syndrome imaginable in the relives no matter how you behaved in this life.

If relife happens to everybody, then at any given time everybody will be reliving almost eveybody else's life simultaneously. If everybody is in some sense everybody what happened to individuals?

If you envision a human as a body in the control of one owner self-consciousness that is unaware of billions of other consciousnesses who are along for the ride, where does that get you?

You cannot sort out the practical implcations of a belief until you sort out its implications and its nuts and bolts.

If you are going to claim that a thread is "semi-philosophical" do some philosophy. Work out the implications of your initial postion first to see if it makes any sense. Then to see if it gets you where you want to be.

Russ (former philosopher)