[extropy-chat] "Dead Time" of the Brain.

[A B]

Hi Eugen,
   
  Eugen wrote:
   
  ..."Or do you make a distiction between flat-EEG lacunae and sleep?"...
   
  Generally speaking, there is a distinction. A brain is actually quite electrically active during sleep (over relevantly large time frames of course).
   
  Eugen:
   
  ..."When I sleep (non-REM) I also experience nothing."... 
   
  My other arguments withstanding, I believe the brain retains some electrical activity during all phases of sleep, when viewed over the relevantly long time frames. So in my view, the "old" you is experiencing nothing because he is deceased, but the "copied" you does not experience nothing in the sense you are referring to. IOW, as it is commonly interpreted "you" will never experience true nothingness unless your brain is physically destroyed and incapable of supporting a conscious mind at a later time. Although, if viewed from my perspective, in reality the "you" of yesterday is experiencing nothingness, and the individual you are now is an imperfect copy who will very soon be replaced (I still can't say precisely how long this is - very complicated).
   
  Best Wishes,
   
  Jeffrey Herrlich 

Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
  On Thu, May 04, 2006 at 08:10:33PM -0400, Heartland wrote:

> That's right. Life is a subjective experience of being in the present moment.

I don't know what you mean with this sentence, but since in your definition
death is something we experience routinely it's certainly not death as we know
it, Jim. 

> Whenever an instance of that experience ends, this resulting state becomes

So basically you're into continuity. If you suspend your computer, and resume
upon next day, it's an undead computer running zombie programs. If you go to sleep,
and wake up tomorrow you're a zombie, too. Or do you make a distiction between
flat-EEG lacunae and sleep? 

> functionally equivalent to a state of life before conception and after death (i.e.,
> what is currently considered as "death"). In all these 3 states you experience
> nothing. This is the true essence of death.

When I sleep (non-REM) I also experience nothing. That's not exactly death, though.

> If my current instance ever reaches the death state I really don't care what
> happens next or if my type of mind gets instantiated again or not. As an instance 

So basically if you're a zombie, I can kill you, and you wouldn't object?
Or it wouldn't be you, but some zombie objecting?

> I'm dead. As a
> good person I can only try to ensure that the next instance of SE based on my mind
> gets a better quality of experience then my current one so I would not reject
> general anesthesia because living with pain and suffering is pointless. The above

Wow. You *are* pretty extreme. If you're really into continuity religion
nothing I say can change that. I can only hope you won't get hurt as a result
of strange beliefs (similiarly as Jehowa's Witnesses reject blood transfusions,
and thus have a much poorer survival prognosis in ER setting).

> statement is nothing more than an expression of my own meaning of life theory I
> developed few years ago which aims to optimize the *quality and quantity* of
> subjective experience. Trying to create best possible environment for future

Don't we all try to lead an interesting and fulfilling life?

> instances of SE enhances the quality of my current instance of SE because I would
> feel good about helping others, especially if others are the future instances of my
> mind.

I don't know what SE is, so I'm not understanding this sentence very well.
So you seem to make a distinction between related spatiotemporal patterns,
and unrelated one, treating both differently? If you would encounter a spacetime
portal and would meet your future self, how would you treat yourself?

> The only hope my current instance can have for immortality is definitely not
> cryonics, but that some entity in the future invents time machine that will go back
> and upload my current instance using Moravec Transfer. There's just no other way to

But each individual neuron is being killed, so you're winding up with a self
consisting of zombie neurons. You're just smoothly turning into a zombie, but
you still wind up a zombie. No?

> do this.
> 
> I expect that one of fundamental poshuman rights should be the right to maintain
> current instance of mind process. As of now, we, humans, are living in barbaric

I presume this means that sentient processes should have a right to uninterrupted
and unaltered (from an external observer position) execution. I agree that this is 
desirable. But what if e.g. for economical reasons, or because it constraints the 
rights of other sentient processes some alternation or discontinuation will be required?

> times. Death comes often and there's nothing we can do about it. And that makes me
> very sad.

Yes, but it's only le petit mort.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl leitl http://leitl.org
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