From: altamira (altamira@ecpi.com)
Date: Thu May 11 2000 - 17:26:08 MDT
Hello,
I've been lurking on this list for a little while but have had little to add
until now. Forgive me if the following is incoherent--I'm thinking as I
write rather than thinking things through completely and then writing.
My own experiences lead me to suspect that the fragments of consciousness we
think of as our minds are capable of operating at only a small fraction of
their actual potential while experienced within the human body.
I noticed some of your recent posts referring to the "Singularity" and
followed some links to discover which singularity this might be. I find
that after reading a couple of the essays my take on the idea of
greater-than-human intelligence is different from that of the authors of the
essays.
These authors seemed to view the coming of super-human intelligence as a
cause for alarm or sadness, rather in the same way they view the ending of
the life of a human body. I see another possibility: the opportunity for
the expression of a greater fraction of the "ultimate consciousness" than is
possible from within a human body.
I had not thought to bring up the possibility of human consciousness apart
from the body on this list, since most of the participants seem to see the
mind and body as inseparable and to think of physical immortality as a
prerequisite to mental immortality. However, since Sasha's death, there's
been more talk of the possibility that consciousness can exist apart from a
physical container for some length of time.
Earlier in this post I mentioned experiences I've had which lead me to
believe that our minds are only fragments of a greater intelligence. One of
these experiences involves a sort of super-data-base which can be accessed
from altered states of consciousness such as a trance state. I haven't
studied enough psychology to know if this is the sort of thing Jung referred
to as the "collective unconscious" but I've heard the term, and it seems to
fit the experience.
I think that rather than going on at greater length, I should post this and
see if anyone else on this list is interested. I should probably add that
I'm not associated with any formal religeon and that my "spiritual"
experiences have more in common with science fiction than with Sunday
School.
Bonnie
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-extropians@extropy.com
[mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.com]On Behalf Of Dan Fabulich
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 4:41 PM
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: Our friend Sasha (was RE: success of cryonics arrangements)
Michael LaTorra mused:
> I doubt that our computational devices are capable of hosting human-level
> information processing yet. That being said, there is a part of me that
> hopes that somewhere, on a Net-connected machine, Sasha's mind still
lives.
True... but isn't it the case that the Buddhists believe that one can
reincarnate into a lot of things that don't have the processing power
to host a human? (grasshoppers, etc?)
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings
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