This document stands as a license for future peoples (simulators) to utilize the self/mind/consciousness of William Stedden (me) for research and entertainment purposes. This document aims to outline some requirements to aid with the assessment of the uses where I give consent and those which I expressly forbid. This document is a work-in-progress, and is subject to update without notice at any point during my natural, physical, original life.
By the licensing of self, I mean to represent a license to recreate via computational simulation the internal sense of self that belongs intrinsically to William Stedden. Although this is an abstract concept it can perhaps best be explained as the creation of any thing which behaves in a way that causes a reasonable person to suspect that the thing has an internal perception that believes itself to be me, the person William Stedden, born William Michael McFadden, 1988 CE. In addition, the thing should also be able to produce outputs in a simulation of my life that resemble those outputs that either the original William Stedden produced or that were produced by another such simulation of my original self (the Stedden test).
i. Good Intentions: It is my intention that any use of my consciousness would be to aid in good intentioned endeavors of human-kind and other sentient entities, chiefly scientists and creators dedicated to production of knowledge and crafts intended for the betterment of all, but not for the betterment of one party at the expense of others. Further stipulations are that the purpose of simulation is neither illegal by the laws of the time at which the simulation is rendered, nor out of keeping with my own morals, either expressly stated in my lifetime, or as communicated by a well-rendered simulation of my self. The purpose of simulation and its use should not be for personal commercial gain of the simulating party. Purposes for the common good of all future humans and any future entities maintaining equal rights as humans are allowed.
ii. Minimizing personal harm: My inclusion in any simulation should be done with the intent to minimize harm experienced by the simulated self. However, this does not prevent my simulated self from being subjected to harms that either did occur in my real life, could reasonably have occurred in my life, or that the simulator in concert with the ethical standard organizations of their time would hold to be not excessively harmful.
iii. Painless Termination and Disclosure: I believe it is imperative to ensure that the termination of any simulation is done in a manner that is painless, and if possible informs the simulated self that it was indeed part of a simulation run by some externally existing world. In so much as it is reasonable to accomplish without causing undue harm, revealing details of the externally existing world (such as the time since my death, the world population, or the intention of the simulation, etc.) would be appreciated.
iv. Extensibility:This license grants the simulators permission to make my simulation extensible. This means that while any simulation of my self requires that it will reasonably approximate any data collected on me in my real life, the simulator is free to apply a model of my self to as yet unforeseen circumstances so long as these circumstances comply with the remainder fo this document.
v. Clarification:Finally, if any ambiguity remains as to whether an intended use wouldviolate this license, I grant permission to generate a limited simulation of my self to be rendered for the ascertainment of further permissions, conditional on the stipulations elsewhere in this document.
Below is a partial list of intended uses of my consciousness. This is by no means a complete list as I have limited capacity to imagine what intended uses my simulated self could serve. This list may provide guidance on things in which I would be willing to take part.
I request that the following activities be avoided.
On behalf of myself and any simulated versions of my self, I thank the readers of this document for their consideration of my wishes. And if you believe that your intended purposes would satisfy these conditions, I look forward to hopefully meeting you one day.
William Stedden
Dec 10, 2020