X-Message-Number: 22280
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: assuming the consequent
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 12:33:55 +0100

----- Original Message ----- 
> Message #22275
> From: 
> Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 08:31:06 EDT
> Subject: assuming the consequent
> 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?
>

The written description isn't the same as the object it describes. It isn't
even an example of such an object. But surely if it describes the object
with total accuracy, hardware and software, then it could be used to
fabricate an example of that object.

Maybe there is something like the Uncertainty Principle that suggests that
it is impossible to produce a written description of a person, but that is a
different issue. Surely if it can be described by a non-computational
language such as English it can be described by an executable language such
as Visual Basic, or more realistically by a much more advanced language used
by nano assemblers.

Given that an example of the object can be made using atoms by
nanotechnology, the next subject to consider is whether it is possible to
make an example of the object using something else that nevertheless is the
same in all other respect as the original.

Corel WordPerfect is available for both Microsoft and Linux -- two different
systems. It may even be available on the Mac as well which would be a better
example as the hardware and assembler language is different. It would
certainly be possible to make it behave exactly the same in all instances,
although there may be slight differences for convenience of programmers and
users.

Making a person out of intelligent plasma (for example) as opposed to carbon
etc atoms is a big move on from this. There would clearly be a divergence of
behaviour when the change is made. But this already happens when a person
grows from a baby to a toddler to a teenager and then an adult. Few people
would believe that it is a different person. lawyers certainly don't.
Children who commit serious crimes when say 11 years old are still locked up
well beyond times when their bodies have physically changed.

If it can be accepted that something that could be regarded as an example of
a person can be made of another form of matter, then it should follow that
it could be made purely in simulation.

I can't claim to know the answers, but these are all points that need
consideration.

-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more

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