[ExI] Wrestling with Embodiment

[Natasha Vita-More]

Anders wrote Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 6:27 PM

On 25/01/2012 19:25, natasha at natasha.cc wrote:
>
>  Is there not another possible way in which the brain and its 
> functioning could be expanded/extended that does not rely exculsive on 
> computational codes?

"I think computational codes are universal, so that any form of 
transhuman modification/extension can be seen as modifying the code."

Are you saying that all perceptual and psychological attributes of the human
body can be negotiated and in doing so, can transform these
molecular/chemical actions and reactions into computer codes?

"This is convenient for analysing them. But in practice of course all 
computation is embodied as something - flesh, silicon, nanomachines, 
wood, what have you. 

Yes, and this is my argument against notions of disembodiment.

"And sometimes it might not even be obvious what the 
computation *is* (other than that it is doing what it is doing), in 
which case it might be very hard to re-represent it without making an 
identical copy of the system or a cumbersome element-by-element emulation."

Okay, here is an problem: 
You have two well-informed and skilled experts in the domain of AGI. They
are equally skilled, give or take, but they are different. One is dyslexic
and the other has aspersers syndrome.  How would they approach uploading?
Might they "see" it or approach it somewhat differently?


Best,
Natasha