[extropy-chat] Copycat Copycat

[Brett Paatsch]

Spike
 
> If we had had him cloned, surely the genetically identical
> offspring would not take up these evidently starvation-induced 
> endearing behaviors.

Surely not, I agree. His experiences shaped his neural net in
conjunction with his genes. Both genes and experience matter
and there is an interplay between them.

He isn't him, you aren't you, and I aren't I on the basis of genes 
alone any more than a recipe produces the same cake at varying
temperatures of oven. The same recipe has a better chance of 
producing a similar or even very similar cake as last time if you 
keep the processing conditions constant.  But of course with cakes 
its easier to keep the conditions constant than with people and 
animals (like mammals) because other people and animals
are what we interact with.

Brett