[ExI] Let's play What If.

[Ben Zaiboc]

Alan Grimes declared:

>> At no point would there be any more
>> communication between them than there is between
any
>> other two people, and certainly no shared
>> consciousness.

> Oh, but there must be! Uploading would be entirely
> without utilitarian
> benefit without such a link! =P

So what is the nature of this supposed link?  What is
it's mechanism, how can it be interrupted, etc.?

When I say "no shared consciousness" I don't mean that
at first, their consciousness wouldn't be identical. 
I mean there is no sharing of consciousness, in a
'hive-mind' sort of way.

>> This dualistic view makes no sense to me. 

> I'm a militant monist!
> How dare you accuse me of dualistic thinking.
> I'm less of a dualist than you are.
>
> You believe in a new kind of dualism called
> pattern-brain duality. 

I suppose that's similar to 'tick-clock duality', or
'music-CD duality'? The fact that systems exhibit
behaviour is not 'dualism', and calling it that is
unnecessary and confusing.  

If you're saying that I believe that one system
exhibiting one kind of behaviour is equivalent to
another system exhibiting exactly the same behaviour,
you're right, and so do you.  Unless you think that
only one wristwatch in the whole world can tell the
correct time.  Where we differ is that I see no reason
why the principles that apply to every other complex
system in existence shouldn't also apply to brains. 
Why should brains, and brains alone, be exempt?


>> The central point is this:
>> There is no 'you', except for what your brain does.

> Correct, my brain.

No, not your brain.  What it does.  If your brain did
nothing, there would be no you.  It's easy to
demonstrate, because so many things that interfere
with the functioning of the brain (but that don't
change it's structure) cause changes in consciousness.
If you were your brain, you'd be dead within a few
days, weeks or months, depending on what level of
physical structure the 'you-ness' resides in.

On the other hand, if you give your watch to a shop to
have the battery changed, I bet you don't say "This
isn't my watch!" when you get it back with a new
battery. You don't care which battery is in there, you
only care that the watch works the same as before.

'You' are not your brain, 'you' are what it does. 
It's the functioning that's important, not the
material or the mechanism.  This is evident by the
fact that the molecules it's composed of are being
swapped for new ones all the time, and that some
signals are conveyed by action potentials kicked off
at synapses, or at tight junctions, and some by
diffusing chemicals.  These mechanisms and materials
are only there to make the process work.  It's the
process that is you.


> So lets argue about who's the stinking soft-headed,
> mystical-thinking,
> fact-ignoring, limp-wristed, lotus-eating dualist
> because he sure as
> hell ain't me!

LOL.
Perhaps you /should/ take your medication before
posting!

Ben Zaiboc