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. -- ***************************************** Sincerely, * Longevity Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/lr.htm * John de Rivaz * Fractal Report * * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm * * Music I like - see homepage * ***************************************** In the information age, sharing can increase world wealth enormously, because giving information does not decrease your information. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR Fast loading, very few slow pictures Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8117