From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sat Jun 02 2001 - 12:57:49 MDT
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote,
> My favorite quote on this subject:
>
> "But I am not an object. I am not a noun, I am an adjective. I am the way
> matter behaves when it is organized in a John K Clark-ish way. At the
> present time only one chunk of matter in the universe behaves that way;
> someday that could change."
> -- John K Clark
Very astute quotation from John. He values his adjectiveness and wants to
preserve it. This statement is true for his goals for survival.
I, however, proudly proclaim myself to be a noun. I do not value
maintaining my adjective qualities as much as John. In fact, I would love
to change the adjectives that describe me. No matter what adjective
describes my current state, I believe I can envision an improvement. I
think that given enough time and resources, I will eventually change every
single attribute I have into something different that I would rather have.
I can't think of any single adjective that distinguishes me that I would
refuse to change. I may change my body, my mind, my thinking process, my
personality, my location or my position in time. No matter how much I
change, I am still me. This self-transforming object I call "me" will
evolve. It will transcend. It will change. No adjective label will remain
the same forever. Only its identity name, number, or encrypted sequence
code which I choose, will remain the same.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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