From: Eric Hardison (bijaz@mindspring.com)
Date: Fri Jun 25 1999 - 17:03:23 MDT
I see now that a lot of the discussion of consciousness here is centered
around uploading of one's mind into another medium. I thought I could
add my two cents.
First, I'd like to point out that I think uploading is the wrong
approach. It would be better to replace the body with new
electromechanical technology -- cell for cell via multiple injections.
Once every cell has been replaced with an electromechanical version,
they can all dispense with the "organic pretension". The new body will
be programmable. Bored with the old style of body? Go in for a retrofit
or maybe a restructuring "operation".
The first problem is designing electromechanical cells that can create
chemicals for the intermediate stage. It's clear that they're going to
have to start out as hybrid electromechanical/normal cells. An internal
mechanism will be able to turn some gene sequences on and off so that
the cell will be able to assume the role of any other cell in an organic
body. These mechanisms will need an internal battery that converts
glucose (and or fat depending on the cell) into energy.
Once all the cells have been replaced with the new hybrid cells, the
electromechanical parts of the cells can begin a controlled (perhaps
over a period of a few weeks) apoptosis schedule, sending the
self-destruct command to their organic halves. For every organic "half"
that is destroyed, a new electromechanical cell is added to the system,
displacing water. Eventually, the new body will be organic free, organ
free, and water free. Finally, the mind will the be redundantly encoded
throughout the body -- like a RAID storage system.
The skin will be photovoltaic (no clothes) and regenerative walking will
recycle energy (no shoes).
The body will also need energy storage for the night and for dark
environments -- perhaps a superconducting flywheel. (liquid nitrogen as
the new Gatorade?)
Some people in particularly dark areas might even have to "eat"
(restaurants will be renamed "outlets").
The above brings all new meaning to the phrase "power lunch" for the
corporate world.
And last but not least,
The new body comes with a lifetime guarantee. LOL!
That being said...I'll move onto consciousness.
Our conscious experience is CAUSED -- it does not CAUSE. Certainly our
brains are part of the stream of cause and effect. Our BRAINS do cause
things, but our conscious experience causes nothing. Also, on the
macroscopic level of large molecules and definitely cells, there is *no
such thing* as an uncaused cause. That's why I call it a stream of cause
and effect.
Pure and simple, the brain generates the mind just as a movie projector
puts the image of movie on a screen. But instead of projecting EM light
signals on a 2D screen, it projects signals onto itself -- a 3D screen.
Signals between neurons ARE those projections. (I'm staying away from
the superluminal debate from now on...)
I have nerve damage in my left hand. When my palm is touched, I sense
the touch at my palm and also at the tips of my thumb and index fingers.
This conscious sensation is definitely generated in my mind. I cannot
say that an experience is being extended to my thumb -- even though the
sensation is located in my thumb and index finger, for there was no
cause of the sensation at those points.
The same goes for the rest of the body: it's all generated in the brain.
It encodes an isomorphic copy of the physical world within itself. It
seems like the mind is being projected onto reality when it is in fact
being projected onto a MODEL of reality.
All that being said, I think that an uploaded mind WOULD experience
SOMETHING. If it encodes input data as the brain does (similar signals),
it should generate similar qualia.
Further, what does it matter if the qualia change? If the informational
content is programmed into my mind that I like the color "red", that
informational content is associated with the frequency of the EM
spectrum that's associated with red. When my brain gets uploaded, I'll
still like that frequency of the EM spectrum. I'll still call it the
color red. And there's no way that I'll KNOW that the qualia is
different -- minds only store information, not qualia.
Eric // mailto:bijaz@mindspring.com
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