X-Message-Number: 32842
From: 
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:15:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: The Soul as Code

Mark Gubrud, U. of Maryland, has a piece in The New Atlantis on  why 
transhumanism won't work, including why uploading won't work
 
I  wasn't terribly impressed with his approach, but it reminded me  that 
what uploaders are saying, in slightly different language, is that while  the 
word "soul" is taboo, you can use words like "pattern identity" which  
essentially mean pretty much the same thing. They claim your essence is a  
pattern, which can be instantiated as a computer code. (They conveniently  
overlook the continuity and long term implications.)
 
Well. not many people today use the word "ontology" in connection with  
their pet subjects, but the notion of uploading is at base a question in  
ontology. What does it mean to be, to exist? The latest fashion holds that  
nothing exists, or everything exists, since information is everything, and  
information, or potential information, is  everywhere and  indestructible.
 
Oddly enough, I agree that probably there is a law of conservation of  

information--at least, that it cannot be destroyed, even if it can be created.
On a practical level, it means that there is some chance of recovering all 
your  personal information eventually, even if your brain is incinerated. 
But, as  they say, don't hold your breath.
 
So far, Platonism is holding on fairly well. Most people believe that math, 
 for example, is discovered, not invented. But this is probably just 

dancing,  since anything "invented" had to be there already, at least 
potentially.
 
To many all this seems like mental masturbation, but it does have practical 
 implications, such as whether or not you should pay the price for  
cryonics.
 
Robert Ettinger

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