A while ago I talked about a cloned earth theory I had. Someone asked me about that theory the other day and got it completely wrong. So this is based on the cloned earth theory but easier to understand in my opinion.
Imagine a time when the human race has reached a technological age where they can clone matter in seconds. A doctor has planning to be the first cloned person in the world. He goes into his machine and a few moments two of the same doctor comes out. Now here is the problem. Both doctors have the same memories up to when they entered the machine and both doctors believe they are the original doctor. Yet one doctor has just been created. If they are a complete match on the matter level then they cannot tell each other apart.
This is a problem that has already been used in a movie called The 6th Day.
Spoilers for those who have not seen the movie are below. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Adam Gibson is cloned and believes he is the real Adam Gibson. He goes home to see what he believes to be a clone with his family. Later in the movie he realises that he is in fact the clone himself. The problem is not really the same but one can understand how it could be hard to tell one was a clone.
The cloned earth theory takes it one step further and asks how we would know if we were real if the whole world was cloned. The problem here is simple now I feel. The problem is unless there are any signs to tell them they are the clone such as behind the eyelid in The 6th Day. There is no way to tell. If it is in fact a true copy they would never know they were a copy because they would have all their own memories.
This theory can be taken further and could do a cloned universe. Think about if the whole universe was like a document on a computer. If you copy that document and rename it to the same as the old one, you have no way of knowing if you did not remember doing it that it is a copy. Nor would it matter if you did as it was a complete copy. But in the terms of a human being cloned if there is no way of knowing the difference it could create some problems.
Imagine a time when the human race has reached a technological age where they can clone matter in seconds. A doctor has planning to be the first cloned person in the world. He goes into his machine and a few moments two of the same doctor comes out. Now here is the problem. Both doctors have the same memories up to when they entered the machine and both doctors believe they are the original doctor. Yet one doctor has just been created. If they are a complete match on the matter level then they cannot tell each other apart.
This is a problem that has already been used in a movie called The 6th Day.
Spoilers for those who have not seen the movie are below. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Adam Gibson is cloned and believes he is the real Adam Gibson. He goes home to see what he believes to be a clone with his family. Later in the movie he realises that he is in fact the clone himself. The problem is not really the same but one can understand how it could be hard to tell one was a clone.
The cloned earth theory takes it one step further and asks how we would know if we were real if the whole world was cloned. The problem here is simple now I feel. The problem is unless there are any signs to tell them they are the clone such as behind the eyelid in The 6th Day. There is no way to tell. If it is in fact a true copy they would never know they were a copy because they would have all their own memories.
This theory can be taken further and could do a cloned universe. Think about if the whole universe was like a document on a computer. If you copy that document and rename it to the same as the old one, you have no way of knowing if you did not remember doing it that it is a copy. Nor would it matter if you did as it was a complete copy. But in the terms of a human being cloned if there is no way of knowing the difference it could create some problems.
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