From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sat Oct 05 2002 - 15:17:56 MDT
gts also wrote in http://www.extropy.org/exi-lists/extropians/1925.html
> This third abstract also underscores the importance of the information
> contained in our genes with respect to the preservation of our
> personalities. We may someday be able to dispense with the *form* of our
> genes (currently in the form of protein molecules) but I see no way to
> dispense with the *information* they contain. We may not need their form
> but we do need their substance if we hope to keep our personalities
> intact in some transhuman existence.
Yes, the information is key, but you do not appear to
appreciate a common view here that the *information*
is also registered in the remainder of the body outside
the DNA at any *specific* point in time. For example,
I dare say that if all my DNA ceased being transcribed
into RNA at this very moment, I would have at least a
few minutes before anything untoward occurred. My body's
protein production and nerve firings would continue
unabated. Therefore, what is truly *me* can be captured
by a complete analysis of my body excluding my DNA.
More particularly, merely the information recorded in
my *brain* in terms of its memories and potential
behaviors suffices to re-create me in principle.
Now it's true that I am not being threatened by a
tiger at this moment, but had one appeared thirty
seconds ago I would have reacted in a way *determined*
entirely, so I claim, by my present brain state. By
this time, the DNA is no longer *directly* participating
in rendering me. An analogy: after the building is
constructed, the blueprints are to some degree no longer
important.
Lee
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