Disturbing implications

[wombat_socho]

You know, if you take this to its logical (if perhaps absurd) conclusion, the use of unintelligent software packages to guide cruise missiles may someday be regarded as morally equivalent to teaching kids with Down's syndrome to become tokkotai pilots. Come to think of it, I seem to recall a story in Heavy Metal years ago about this.

(Instapundit)

Comments

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

I suspect the question of duplicating consciousness already has an answer, anyway -- you're effectively creating a new consciousness, as the instances will be measurably different from each other from the moment you make the copy.

Is that actually the case? I know that in SF there are several answers to that question. Algis Budrys' classic "Rogue Moon" agrees with you (even though the duplicates have all the memories of the originals) but more recent works (the Star Trek series, the novels of Charles Stross and John Scalzi) don't.