X-Message-Number: 32548
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 05:10:50 -0700
Subject: Re: Analogies & Thought Experiments
From: Keith Henson <>

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 2:00 AM, 2Arcturus <> wrote:

snip


> As I think Moravec suggested, in a thought experiment, a person could be 
transferred from one body to another by bringing one small part of the mind 
offline in one body while bringing it online in the other, piece by piece, while
conscious. If the nervous systems of the two bodies were synced, the person 
could literally carry on a conversation without pausing while this was taking 
place. This would go a long way, I think, to answering the "gut instinct" 
objection, because then people could actually feel, observe, and experience the 
continuity of thought and physical embodiment from one substrate to another.

I found Moravec's description rather distasteful, a one way transfer
and no way to get back.  It might be acceptable if a person was near
death.  That's unlikely because the technology needed for the transfer
is more advanced than it would take to cure any kind of problem
including age.

There is no reason for such a drastic approach.  Advanced
nanotechnology would allow a fully reversible uploading starting with
"mere" neural interfaces.  I am not the only one who thinks this way.



http://books.google.com/books?id=-t4SB9VQDI8C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=charles+stross+%22machines+of+loving+grace%22&source=bl&ots=nBRvtDcaHU&sig=ttcbnoCwW-QG5T9lTqJ4X6kR4lo&hl=en&ei=IHW8S6fRFo7QtAOs9fXsBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Also, if you have not read Accelerondo, you should.

Keith Henson

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32548