X-Message-Number: 8117
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 13:16:57 +0100
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: CRYONICS Re: Consciousness etc

In article: <> 
 writes:
> Message #8105
> From: Peter Merel <>
> Subject: Re: HAL
> Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 01:15:06 +1000 (EST)
> ...perhaps some humans, are not conscious because their
> behaviour is predicated on blind faith, a rigidity of values, or some
> other unquestioned assumption. Consciousness, true consciousness, can only
> maintain as goal a harmony with events - accomodating whatever happens.
> 
>
I can see this with members of professions who follow the rules blindly. 
Remember in the film "Dr Strangelove" as the world was about to be nuked how 
some official was more concerned that someone was going to break into a Coca 
Cola drinks vending machine?

The matter of units of a dveice that may or may not have consciousness remind 
me of Professor Richard Dawkins' detailed account in "The Selfish Gene" of 
how two oppopsing divorce lawyers, obeying all the rules, can, without 
communicating directly, cooperate to maximise the income of their profession 
as a whole at the expense of the clients. The "conspiracy" is virtual, not 
organised. It is achieved by the actions of units (in this case lawyers) 
following rules.

There are many tales of governmental "conspiracies" in fiction and 
supposedly factual newspapers. I think that these conspiracies often have no 
conspiritors at all - they are just the result of individuals following rules 
of conduct of their professions. The sum total result of hundreds of people 
following complicated rules is sometimes totally beyond the comprehension of 
the person who wrote these rules.

Similarly the same thing could apply in connection with the atoms and 
molecules that make up people. The sum total of all the chemical 
and physical properties of the elements in certain aggregations of matter is 
life. Also evolution has not tried all the possible combinations, and 
intelligently directed evolution (eg life extension, immortality etc) is 
again a substantial change in direction from purely reproduction led 
evolution.
  
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