From: Emlyn (emlyn@one.net.au)
Date: Fri Dec 08 2000 - 19:18:35 MST
I think everyone is offbase here. The problem is that we are equating
consciousness with information. I don't think that it is information.
Even intelligence is not information. A blueprint of it is, but it is the
"running system" which is intelligent, not the information.
All this talk of the mp3 files is talking about the description of
intelligence, not the intelligence itself. The intelligence, the running
system, is the information + the mechanism used to implement the blueprint
provided by the information.
With an mp3, the file itself is not analogous to consciousness. Rather,
consciousness is analogous to one instance of the music pouring forth from
your sound system. It is produced using the information in the file, but in
no way is it in fact that information.
Neither are we information, not in any way.
Emlyn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harvey Newstrom" <mail@HarveyNewstrom.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2000 4:57 AM
Subject: Re: Immortality
> At 12:24pm -0500 12/8/00, John Clark wrote:
> >Jason Joel Thompson <jasonjthompson@home.com> Wrote:
> >
> > > if I delete my mp3 of my favorite Metallica song, I'm fairly
> >certain your
> > > collection will remain unscathed.
> >
> >And if I make a copy and send it to you then your collection will be
> >unscathed too
> >because you'll get the exact same mp3 file back, it is digital after all.
>
> I think people are getting confused between exact copies and
> originals. If I paid a million dollars for the first Metallica CD
> ever recorded, and then found out that I had a newly-made copy, I
> would feel cheated. They may be identical, but I desire the original
> not a copy. The two CD's would be indistinguishable, but would that
> be good enough for me to consider my CD to be "the original"?
>
> As usual in these debates, there are few disagreements on facts or
> science. Most of the disagreements seem to be in goals or what is
> "good enough" for our purposes. Since these are a matter of personal
> taste, I don't think they can be solved by discussion.
> --
> Harvey Newstrom <HarveyNewstrom.com>
>
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