From: scerir (scerir@libero.it)
Date: Fri Dec 15 2000 - 15:05:10 MST
Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
There is a finite number of neurons in the brain,
a finite number of synapses any one neuron can
have at any given time, and a finite number
of neurons that a synapse can transmit to
at any given time. Given a finite life span of a brain,
then the brain is a finite state piece of hardware.
Even if the brain is immortal, it is still finite state
given a finite lifespan to the universe.
And no *finite* system can perform an *infinite*
number of computations.
That's because erasures are performed and,
inevitably, the process of computation becomes
irreversible, and produces some entropy, and some heat.
And a *finite* system has not *infinite* energy, or
*infinite* states.
So, *if* consciousness can be reduced to computation,
consciousness can not be eternal.
[But if you quantum-compute very very slowly ....]
-scerir
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