If minds go away, can they still exist? My opponent says, “No, the tree I perceive exists only in my mind, and if we all went away, it wouldn’t exist.” I say, “Yes. The tree is a digital object, which does not depend on me for its existence.” Even if all (simulated and unsimulated) human life went away, in principle the tree could continue to exist as a digital object.
what if you turn off/on simulation? does it exist if it’s powered down? the digital bits are still stored somewhere until deleted.
