From: Robin Faichney (robin@mmmi.org)
Date: Mon 17 Apr 2006 - 18:07:55 GMT
Monday, April 17, 2006, 5:51:10 PM, Keith wrote:
> At 11:59 AM 4/17/2006 +0100, Robin wrote:
>>Sunday, April 16, 2006, 6:13:00 PM, Keith wrote:
>>
>> > At 11:29 AM 4/16/2006 +0100, you wrote:
>> >>Saturday, April 15, 2006, 9:11:22 PM, Keith wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > For example, when a human mind is
>> >> > implemented in computer hardware does it get infected with a meme or a
>> >> > computer virus?
>> >>
>> >>Just to show I'm not averse to discussion mutation: surely that's a
>> >>computer mind, not a human mind?
>>
>> > Chunk of a fiction story I wrote currently in voting on K5.
>>
>>Mmm, "fiction", yes, I see...
> I should have made note that this is based on the best extrapolations of
> where technology is going.
What exactly does "best" mean there?
>>I don't believe it makes sense to consider minds as transferable
>>between substrates.
> Why not? Unless there is something supernatural about a mind, can you
> think of any reason your mind would not run on a good simulation of the
> underlying "hardware"?
Seems to me it would be MORE likely to haunt a machine if it was
supernatural. But back in this world, the problem is that the
hardware/software distinction does not apply to anything natural,
only to a certain type of machine (programmable computers).
>>As implied by your mention of "spirits", that's a
>>basically dualist view. And I know that language was intended for
>>those who could not appreciate the technology. But it also illustrates
>>where the concepts originated. You just took dualism full circle,
>>which is appropriate, because it takes us nowhere.
> I really don't see the concept of spirit as dualistic. If a chair has been
> painted red your eyes tell you it has the quality of "red." If you can
> interact with something, it has the quality of "spirit." Thus live cats
> and dogs have spirit. So do computers with operating systems. Dead
> humans, cats and dogs plus computers that have been turned off don't have
> spirit. Simple as that.
If you believe the human spirit can be separated from the body
you're a dualist.
>>What would make more sense, as well as being more relevant to this
>>forum, would be a story about copying the memes from a person into a machine.
> That is the main topic for several forums, among them Shock Level Four,
> Extropians and Transthumanists. How do we imbue the god-like AIs that we
> are on the verge of creating with a set of memes that will permit continued
> existence for lesser creatures including us?
Isn't the human imagination wonderful!?
-- Best regards, Robin mailto:robin@mmmi.org =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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