From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Sat Jun 26 1999 - 23:15:47 MDT
emory.edu... could it be another Atlantan is finally on the list?!
Anyway, don't worry about us group A people taking over the
Earth once we upload and run fast... sure we might take a
few mountains and chunks of oceans for our ships, but I can
personally promise you that I will leave your own atoms alone.
:-)
Just don't get hit by any cars while you are waiting on that
neuronal upload process to be perfected.
Xiaoguang Li wrote:
>
> hi all.
> the recent discussion about the problem of identity preservation
> during uploading seems very interesting. as someone here pointed out, the
> debate divides into two major camps -- A. those who measure identity
> through objective observation, and B. those who relie on subjective
> experience. along another dimension, the former camp tends to believe that
> patterns of information alone can be conscious while the latter tends to
> require a chain of causality as well.
> although i incline toward the latter, i do not believe that the
> matter is arguable either way ... it seems to be a matter of faith.
> however, i do see some potential effects of this division which appear
> unsettling. it seems to me that uploading patterns of information (say
> into a platform-independent software representation) will be much easier
> than implementing one-neuron-at-a-time nanosurgery. taking note that group
> A. usually have no trouble with pure software while group B. generally
> prefer seqential neuron replacements, i fear that one population of
> transhumanists will most likely be uploaded appreciably before the other.
> perhaps i am overly cynical, but i do not like the idea of living
> under a population of bona fide "superior" beings. i am not suggesting
> that power necessarily brings about corruption and oppression (wait ... it
> sounds ... hmmm), but i do expect that increased intellect would bring
> about different priorities. what do you think?
>
> "and in this kind of race, you don't get a silver medal for finishing
> second."
> -- Henry Jones, "The Last Crusade"
>
> xgl
-- Join the ExI/>H SETI team today: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_show&id=393------------------------------------------------------------------- "It IS possible." - Vincent, _Gattaca_
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