[ExI] quantum brains

Damien Broderick thespike at satx.rr.com
Wed Jan 6 20:10:01 UTC 2010


On 1/6/2010 12:56 PM, Samantha Atkins wrote:

>>> >>  That would make mind uploading impossible. It might still be possible to
>>> >>  replicate a mind, but it wouln't have all the advantages of software.
>> >
>> >  Yes, it's a disheartening thought. Unless minds are already being copied on a time-sharing entanglement basis through whatever medium psi operates in--which<gasp>  opens the way to a sort of version of (QT-instantiated) souls, maybe
>
> Nature came up with mysterious ju-ju X but humans, a product of ju-ju X can't build anything else also incorporating X.  Yeah, right.

That's not the argument. If natural selection stumbled on some sort of 
entanglement thingee that subserves consciousness and perhaps psi, it is 
quite plausible that making a mechanical brain out of beer cans and 
toilet paper or integrated circuits *just isn't using the right kind of 
stuff to instantiate a conscious mind.* Sure, we could reverse-engineer 
the process using the right kind of stuff (bioengineered up, maybe, or 
adiabatic quantum computers, or something as yet undreamed of) but it 
would still mean that linear electronic computers are a dead end *for 
consciousness* even if they are wizardly with computations and can beat 
your pants off at chess or Go or driving a racing car up Mount Everest.

Damien Broderick





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