[ExI] mind body dualism

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Tue, 6/29/10, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

On 28 June 2010 00:28, Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>>> "The old concepts of mind-body dualism are turning out not
>>> to be true at all," Bargh said. "Our minds are deeply and organically
>>> linked to our bodies."

>> Heresy! lol.

> Really?

> I always thought that *this* was the orthodox position, beyond the 
> monotheistic or thinly secularised stuff on souls and psyches. 

Bargh's statement against dualism amounts to heresy here on ExI, I meant. 

It seems obvious to me that one must embrace a form of mind-body dualism
before accepting the belief, common here on ExI, that humans will someday
have the technology to upload their personalities into some digital realm
while leaving their organic bodies behind.

> That is, the "mind" is not something especially more esoteric nor has a 
> more independent reality than, say, "digestion". 

I agree completely.

I note also that digital simulations (or emulations) of digestion do not
actually digest food. Digital simulations of organic processes never actually perform the processes they simulate. They merely simulate those processes. For whatever reason a lot of people here on ExI think this rule does not apply to brain processes.

Most people here will agree that a digitally simulated stomach cannot
digest real food, but many of those same people will argue that a 
digitally simulated brain can think real thoughts. Mind-body dualism.

-gts