X-Message-Number: 3676
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 21:30:42 -0500
From: 
Subject: SCI. CRYONICS survival

While I would like to respond in detail to Mr. Merel, Mr. Clark and the
others who are interested in survival criteria, things have reached a point
where I just can't spare the time--not to mention the apparently endless and
intractable nature of the same old disagreements. Let me then just once more
very briefly reiterate a couple of points:

1. People--including putative people--are not black boxes. If it looks like a
duck etc. it still might be a decoy or a clockwork duck. If you can't catch
it for closer investigation and X-rays etc., then you just reserve judgment
or make your best guess. 

Feelings, consciousness, qualia,  subjective experience--these have a
physical basis (the self circuit) which will eventually be understood. Until
we know this physical basis it is premature to ASSUME that it can exist
merely as a program in an arbitrary medium. The "information paradigm" is
merely an ASSUMPTION, not a self-evident fact, plausible and attractive as it
may be.

2. The "philosophical" problems of continuity and duplicates exist regardless
of (1) above. There are also open scientific questions that may bear on these
matters, such as quantum connections and the nature of spacetime.

Primary conclusion: It would be foolish to rely upon uploading to save
yourself. 

Robert Ettinger
Immortalist Society
Cryonics Institute

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