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jarjoura 16 hours ago

Consciousness is such a hard concept to box. I mostly attribute "mystical" thinking as the thing we do when we can't fully articulate or understand how and why something works. A computer system is magical to anyone who doesn't have a deep understanding of how it all works. So that makes it entirely fair that consciousness is treated the same, except, no human alive right now understands it.

If you were to clone yourself, and that clone could maintain 100% of whatever state your brain is in so that all your experiences and memories were intact. From that point forward, as far as we know, you and your clone would diverge. Then, from my tiny-brained vantage point, the fact you remain your original self, your clone is technically a new person. You can't see through your clone's eyes, or process any internal information from your clone. However, something new powers that clone, and the only word I can think of for that is "soul." I don't say that in religious context, but unless there's a more precise word that can detangle it from sounding mystical, for now I'm happy to use it, since people mostly understand what I'm talking about.

Once we start talking about resetting this clone at-will, then, with consciousness in the mix, you will have to confront the ethics of that clone being enslaved by whatever. All very messy and I hope we don't have to answer this question in my lifetime.