From: Zenarchy (J.R.Molloy@shasta.com)
Date: Tue Dec 01 1998 - 16:01:05 MST
From: mark@unicorn.com <mark@unicorn.com>
>Frankly, this whole thread seems to come from people whose concept of
>identity is seriously screwed. I am not my body, I am not my fingerprints,
>I am not my DNA, I am not my face, I am my mental programming.
Why do you say "my" mental programming? What entity owns, controls, posseses
this particular mental programming? If the mental programming owns itself,
then Mark = mental programming, and this crpto-ownership really means
identity. So Mark must consist of more than his mental programming. He also
has parts of himself (i.e., the entire complex adaptive system called Mark)
resident in other cognitive artifacts -- for instance readers of his email
posts and other communications harbor bits of the mental programming called
Mark. Some identifiable parts of Mark (or the Mark-ness of Mark) may also
reside in the skulls of his friends, relatives, and associates, as well as
in the sources from which Mark has collected and collects mental
programming.
But surveillance systems don't have any interest in this. They only care
about the flesh and blood, and any property connected with it, because
mental programming has no consequence until it manifests physically.
>My mind is just totally boggled by this thread; it's so obviously absurd
>that I can barely imagine anyone on this list actually taking it seriously.
>Things have definitely gone downhill since I started reading it four or
>five years ago.
Ouch! Does your mind make you say this, or do you make your mind say it? or
does mental programming constrain itself from imagining this as serious
discourse? -zen
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