Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> I would also point out, once again, that a believe it is
> possible for the essence of you to jump substrate at all is
> grounds for something that looks very much like a
> technologically backed doctrine of the soul and even soul
> migration and possible reincarnation. I embrace those
> implications, you would demean others who believe something like
> this is possible on different grounds than you do.
No offense, but isn't that sort of like saying that the omniscience of
Google proves that Google is God? We may joke about it, but I'd be rather
disturbed to see somebody taking it seriously. As den Otter once said:
"The undefinable is the undefinable, the universe is the universe,
infinity is infinity. Using the term "God" to describe any or all of
these things is simply not very practical." I would add that Google is
Google, a Sysop is a Sysop, an SI is an SI, and uploading is uploading.
I tend to be confident about my ability to handle what goes on in my head,
but I don't mess with social group polarization, I don't mess with
attaching moral valency to predictions (learned that the hard way), and I
don't mess with religious analogies. I tend to regard these things as the
cognitive equivalent of sticking your head in a microwave oven.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:42 MDT