From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@ricochet.net)
Date: Thu May 31 2001 - 01:09:16 MDT
At 04:00 AM 5/30/01 -0700, you wrote:
>> Would you or would you not mind evolving into someone that has
>> absolutely no resemblance to Samantha Atkins circa 2001?
>
>It depends on what the core *me* that I do want to continue is.
So the answer is "Yes"? For example, suppose that there exists
in 3000A.D. an entity who resembles to a tiny fraction Tony
Blair, Prime Minister. That is, this tremendous entity has
some of Blair's memories, but that's all.
I say that if you slowly turn into this entity, then you are
just as dead as if you slowly turn into a stone. There are
objective reasons why a stone (or Mr Blair) is not Samantha
Atkins. In order for something to be Samantha Atkins (to
varying degrees of fidelity) it must satisfy certain
physical criteria (though we do not today know what those
are).
>I am pretty sure that I wouldn't have much fun running
>Samantha circa 2001 indefinitely.
You speak, again, of a core you "running" these various
persona. Okay, I can buy that. Then let's direct my
remarks to your "core". Do you want to evolve into
something that no longer has this "core"?
>Yes. I would be bored if I didn't move on from Samantha Atkins
>circa 2001 eventually. hehe, I don't have an IQ of 250, much
>less all the wealth and time in the world. If I did I would not
>be the Samantha Atkins circa now but rather someone different.
That's very interesting. Of course we're being very crude
here, but it's revealing nonetheless. Have any idea about
how many I.Q. points you could gain without undergoing this
loss of identity? (You might not like that phrasing; help
yourself to a re-word.)
>With those differences I would still get eventually bored
>(overly familiar with the envelope of potential patterns) and
>want to move on. I might even get "bored" more rapidly.
Oh, well, recall that boredom is an evolved process, like pain,
that helps us to survive. If that's your only beef, well, there
will doubtless be correctives available. Food and sex don't
"get boring" precisely because of natural selection, of course.
Lee
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