Teleportation, Conscious Identity, and the Existence of Extraphysical Fact

Let's consider a variant of the destructive teleporter. This variant differs from the standard destructive teleporter:

Instead of the person being constructed at the destination after being deconstructed at the source, a duplicate is first constructed at the source. Five minutes later, the person at the source is deconstructed. So, for the five minutes after the construction there are two physically identical persons at the two ends of the teleportation system. The destination and source are sealed devices that close prior to the onset of the construction and open again two minutes after the completion of the deconstruction.

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We cut to Spock, as he is undergoing this teleportation procedure--right after the completion of the construction phase. Spock has a peculiar property, he is a super-observer, and as such, he is aware of every single physical detail of the universe. So the question: Can Spock know if he is the Spock at the source, "Source-Spock," or the Spock at the destination, "Destination-Spock," during this five minute window?

I submit to you that he cannot. What I mean is, if it is a fact that Spock is either at the source or at the destination, (exclusive-or) then this cannot be a physical fact about the universe. If Spock is to know which of the two Spocks he is, it seems he needs to know an extra-physical fact.

If we suppose that the Spock under consideration is Destination-Spock, then at five minutes after the construction, Destination-Spock synthesizes his super-knowledge about the state of the universe with an additional fact, that he is still conscious, (and the implicit belief that if his body is completely atomized, then he would not be) to deduce that he is in fact Destination-Spock

If we suppose that the Spock in question is Source-Spock, at five minutes he is no more.

I think I've shown quite clearly here that whatever the nature of the association between physical-brain states and mental states, this association must be extra-physical.

I foresee three ways of circumventing this conclusion of mind-body dualism; and we have high stakes in avoiding this result as we could not even hope to have an account of an extra-physical enabling of mind-body causation. Accepting Cartesian dualism is akin to giving up and asserting the connection between the physical and the mental is unknowable to us, in principle. These are:

1) Deny the existence of consciousness (I have to admit, I am actually incapable of doing this)

2) Deny objective realism

3) Suppose a new physical principle, call it perhaps, The Conscious Observer Superimposition Principle, that states that during the five minute window, there is only one conscious observer Spock that has two bodies, and his raising of the question, "Am I at the source or the destination?" is meaningless or misguided.

submitted by lymn to philosophy

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