X-Message-Number: 14849 Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 13:37:00 +0100 From: Henri Kluytmans <> Subject: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. -->Hi, Maybe I should have made the subject header : "If it ain't necessary, don't assume new physics." :) I wrote : >>This was my hypothetical scenario : > >>Your body is taken apart atom by atom. All the atoms >>are labeled when they are stored away. The locations >>of every atom are stored in a database. Then the body >>is build up again, atom by atom, to its original state. >>Every original atom is put in its old place. The body >>is reanimated. >>Would you mind ? David Pizer replied : >I think I would mind. But I must point out to you, that according to current physical theories the bodies before and after disassembly are chemically and biologically identical... Some people claim that some new and still unknown physical mechanisms will be required to explain how are our brain (i.e our consciousness) functions. Please note that a conscious state implies a running (i.e. living, animated) state. Although I disagree with this, because I think that there are no good reasons to have to assume new physical mechanisms for explaining the mind (applying Occams razor), most of those people at least seem to agree with me regarding a deanimated state. They agree that in case of a *frozen* state *NO new physics* is required to describe our brain. I.e. they agree that a complete chemical description (as according to conventional physics) of the structure of a frozen body is sufficient to recreate that body. Now you seem to go a step further! You claim that even in a frozen state new unknown physics is required for describing the body. You claim that a frozen body (at for example 0.1 degrees Kelvin) is more than just a chemical structure of molecules and atoms !!! I would like to know : "What is your scientific motivation to assume the necessity of some new and unknown physics ?" What new physics and why ??? PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME !!!! : "What kind of unknown physical processes are taking place in a chemical structure at 0.1 degrees Kelvin ??? >If selfhood is a unique continuing process, we now have to know if the >re-assembled person is a continuation of the original process or a new >process. Continuity in what ? >But .. why take the person apart? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Uhh, that's why it was a hypothetical scenario... Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14849