X-Message-Number: 12975
From: 
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 09:18:44 EST
Subject: Crevier's summary

Daniel Crevier wrote:

>Both Donaldson and Ettinger wrote lengthy comments to my list of 
>arguments about why machines can be conscious, which I posted a week
>ago.

>To recap, remember that this posting was just that: a list of the
>arguments. Its entire purpose was to advertise a short (five page) 
>paper that explained and discussed the arguments, and that I offered 
>to send to anyone who asked for it. Neither Ettinger nor Donaldson 
>bothered to ask me for the paper before sounding off their comments. 
>This is like criticizing a book on the sole basis of its table of 
>contents. As a consequence their replies are totally irrelevant, 
>and I will not bother to discuss them any further. 

Irrelevant? Hardly. After all, the comments were not made in a vacuum, and 
not solely on the basis of his "table of contents"  of his "book" (five 
pages). On the contrary, we had the background of his extensive previous 
posts and a huge stockpile of similar publications by many people over many 
years. It would be astonishing if his most recent work--which he himself, I 
think, characterized as a "summary"--has anything substantially new.

Nevertheless, to cover the bases, I did intend to ask for his paper, and 
request it now.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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