X-Message-Number: 22275
From: 
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 08:31:06 EDT
Subject: assuming the consequent

--part1_12b.2edda3d7.2c5a660a_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Tim Freeman writes in part:

>   So we have to decide whether emotions etc. are computational properties.  
> 
  I think > they are
> 
> Even my own emotions are a computational property.  For all I know,
> the aliens landed while I was sleeping last night, ate all or part of

> my brain, and replaced the part they consumed with some other device
> that simulates the original computation.  If it's a simulation that
> gets the same job done as the original, and I don't get my head
> x-rayed, I'd never know.  By Occam's razor, there's no point in
> distinguishing between two entities if the distinction doesn't make a
> difference, so it makes sense to say that a simulation of an emotion
> is the emotion.  
> 

Sorry, Tim--same old error, assuming the very thing you're trying to 

establish. You sweep the issue under the rug by saying "gets the same job done" 
and 
"doesn't make a difference." 

Yet again: A simulation is the same as the original only in some respects, 
not in all respects. You simply assume, as an article of faith, that the 
differences are not important. 

A decoy might fool a duck, but it isn't a duck. A hologram might fool a 
viewer, but it isn't the original and it isn't "as good" or "the same" in all 

respects. I can write down equations and numbers describing a hydrogen atom and 
its 
activities, but that description isn't a hydrogen atom and can't substitute 
for it except for limited purposes.

If you really want to face the issue, don't talk about fancy devices--just 
talk about written descriptions. Do you really believe that a written 

description of you--complete in all details, and including a description of your
changes 
over time--would be you, or would be a conscious person?

Robert Ettinger



--part1_12b.2edda3d7.2c5a660a_boundary

 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

[ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=22275