From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Mon Jun 04 2001 - 13:47:39 MDT
John Clark wrote,
> Emlyn <emlyn@one.net.au> Wrote:
>
> > I think Harvey might still say he's a physical process,
>
> I think Harvey is a physical process but Harvey doesn't, he
> thinks he's a noun.
>
> > just a particular one.
>
> Convection is a particular physical process, so is Harvey.
I agree with John, I am a physical process. I also agree with Emlyn, I am a
particular physical process. The neurons firing in my brain are part of me.
The neurons firing in John's brain are not part of me. My neurons generate
my current consciousness. John's neurons firing generate his current
consciousness. If we make an identical copy of me, its neurons firing will
generate its current consciousness. This consciousness is no more connected
to me than with John. It may look more like my pattern, so it is more like
me in appearance and function. We can tune it until it is 100% like me in
appearance and function. It is still disconnected from me. Its neurons
don't affect the thoughts in the original's head, and my neurons don't
affect the thoughts in the copy's head.
> >Seeing that his "duplicate" can never be exactly identical,
> then it is
> >always different to some degree.
>
> The two year old Harvey is vastly different from the adult Harvey but
> he still insists that the identity of the two is exactly the
> same, I think the
> identity of the two is a little bit the same.
No, I do not think the two year old Harvey is the same as the current me. I
cannot control the two year old's body with my mental thoughts. I cannot
experience the two-year-old's sensory input in my mind. I cannot even
detect that the two-year-old exists. He is dead and gone. He has no affect
on my current situation. My current existence is in no way connected to
that two-year-old. If I discovered that the two-year-old never existed, and
that I was created fully-formed as an adult with implanted memories of being
a two-year-old, my position would still be the same. My definition of "me"
is based on current access to my thoughts. If I can't "hear" the thoughts
generated by some neurons, they are not my thoughts. If I can't move a body
with my mind, it is not my body.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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