[ExI] mind body dualism

[Stefano Vaj]

On 1 July 2010 17:01, Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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.

No, this is where I beg to differ. I can well upload a movie on a PC
without believing in a possible "essence" of movies which would be
independent from a physical substratum.

> 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.

There again, this is a mere POV. A Mac emulating a PC is a PC in one
sense (say, at a user level), and not in another (say, the people
designing the system).

Functional equivalence at the sociological level is what (will)
define(s) human upload on different platforms - as well as continuing
identity on the same biological substratum in spite of its material
alterations for that matter - the rest being mere matters of faith
which will end up being little more than a historical curiosity.

-- 
Stefano Vaj