X-Message-Number: 4249
Date:  Wed, 19 Apr 95 13:06:34 
From: mike <>
Subject: resurrection, consciousness

From: Mike Perry
Subjects: resurrection, consciousness

Keith Lynch (#4231) raises the issue of whether information is 
lost or not. ("Reverse determinism" is what I've called the point of 
view that it is *not* lost, i.e., that the past can be fully retrodicted from 
the present/future, which would be one way that resurrections of past 
individuals might happen.) Bob Ettinger (#4238) notes that I hold the view 
that revival or resurrection might be possible "in the context of the 
Many Worlds or Parallel Worlds view of quantum branching." I have 
written several articles on this subject for a newsletter I edit 
(*Venturist Monthly News*) which I'll send on request.

Related, somewhat at least, to the idea of resurrection is the issue 
of consciousness; if a computer could *not* exhibit conscious 
behavior, then it would seem to preclude the idea of uploading or 
capturing a human personality in such an artificial device. (Another 
type of device would have to be invented.) On the other 
hand, if consciousness is an option, then, along with uploading, 
resurrection of a past person as a type of computer program becomes 
a possibility, and it is straightforward to think of a person as a 
message, i.e. a digital description could be created. (Actually it 
seems likely that a digital description will be possible even if 
computers along present-day lines turn out to be incapable of 
consciousness.)

The problem of consciousness is probably one that will take a while 
to resolve. But something that might be of interest on these lines 
is a book written in the 1960s: *The Minds of Robots* by James T. 
Culbertson. I've had this book on my shelf for years intending to 
read it but putting it off; now I'm trying more earnestly. Quoting 
from the dust jacket:

"Can robots have 'minds' like humans?

"Yes, they can--in principle--according to the singularly original 
theory of consciousness presented in this ... book

"This bold, completely physicalistic theory of consciousness or sense 
perception is certain to create debate ... In  contrast to this new 
theory, the 'consciousness' produced by modern computers and devices 
is so insignificant that it might be compared to calling three or 
four grains of sand a 'beach.'

"Dr. Culbertson attempts to show in detail how sense perception, 
memory images, and behavior can be produced synthetically ... 

"In presenting his physical theory of mental experience, Dr. 
Culbertson describes how the subjective phenomena of consciousness -- 
pain, sound, color, taste, smell, etc. -- can be constructed out of 
impulses passing through certain artificial components. He calls 
these components 'neurons,' and they resemble biological neurons in 
some ways."

Perhaps someone has already worked through this book and can report.


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4249