[ExI] Monthly Meeting notice

[david pizer]

The next monthly meeting of the Society for Venturism will be held (as always on the first Sunday of each month) at The Venturist Headquarters located at the Creekside Lodge in Mayer Arizona at 2pm.  All cryonicists and immortalists are welcome.  Come a little early if you like.
There will be an exciting discussion with a brief introduction by David Pizer and Mike Perry.  Then everyone is welcome to join in.  The subject of this months discussion will be on if we have a soul and is the soul a physical thing we call the brain.   If that is what a soul is - can we have physical immortality.  Please read the brief remarks below to get in the spirit of the discussion. 
If you can't attend in person, send your brief remarks and we will read them at the meeting.  Contact Mark Plus to find out how to get connected by Skypes and to find out if I spelled it right. :=)
I BELIEVE WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO AVOID DEATH.  THIS IS A VERY EXCITING CONCEPT.  PLEASE READ THE BRIEF OVERVIEW BELOW AND BRING YOUR COMMENTS.
 
David
 =============================================
Mind = Brain = Soul.............and Physical Immortality.By:David Pizer
WHAT IS A SOUL?
Yes, humans have a soul, it is their physical brain.We now know that the thing people used to call their soul is the feeling of consciousness, awareness and thoughts within theirbrain.We no longer need the Dualism concept of a non-material soul to explain consciousness and thinking.
HOW DID THE CONCEPT OF SOUL COME TO BE?
In the past, humans often referred to their conscious mind as their "soul."They did not understand how a physical thing (their brain) could create the feeling of consciousness, and they felt that consciousness was a non-physical thing.Therefore they assumed that consciousness was something that existed apart from their physical brain and/or body.Basically they called their conscious mind "their soul" and they chose to believe that it was somethingapart from the physical matter of their body or even of this universe. Sometimes they thought this non-material thing they called "soul" was immortal.
 
I believe
that the specific conscious mind of an individual is entirely the workings of
their specific brain.  There is little
mystery that the configuration of the neurons in the brain and the arrangement
of their synaptic connections cause the brain to "feel" consciousness
and create and sense thoughts within the workings of the brain.
But this new
materialist explanation of our conscious mind does not mean that we cannot have
a potentially  immortal mind starting
with the same type of mind that in the past was also called the soul.  We can still refer to our mind as the soul of
our personhood and that soul might become  physically immortal if we take action.
WHAT IS A
SOUL AND WHAT IS NOT A SOUL.  CAN A
PHYSICAL SOUL BECOME IMMORTAL?   
We start our
explanation of preparing for physical immortality of our soul (also known as our
mind/brain) by more precisely explaining what our mind/brain really is and what
it is not.  (From here and through the
rest of this work, I will use the words "mind," "brain" and
"soul" interchangeably as 3 different words for the same thing.)
Most people
think  the essential part of their brain
is the specific matter that the brain  consists of.   What makes each
brain unique is not the specific matter it is made of but the individual
arrangement of  matter that is unique to
each different person's brain.   The atoms of each brain are arranged to make
molecules which are arranged to make neurons (brain cells) and their specific synaptic
connections.  Thinking, sensing and other
mental exercises cause the brain to prepare materials in certain
arrangements.  Certain arrangements cause
the brain to sense and think in certain ways.  Information affects arrangement and arrangement affects how information
is interpreted.
It is while
this unique arrangement of common brain materials is animated  and while the brain is processing (feeling)  information from within and without that we
humans experience the feeling of consciousness and awareness.  Life experiences contribute to the cause of  how the neurons and synaptic connections are
arranged.  This specific arrangement
causes specific thoughts and memories.   It is the specific thoughts and memories that
each individual has that makes each  specific person who they are. As long as that  specific arrangement can be recreated any time
in the future, and then reanimated, that specific conscious mind, (the mind of that
person or that soul) will exist.
PRESERVING
THE MIND/BRAIN TO EVENTUALLY BE RESURRECTED AND BECOME PHYSICALLY IMMORTAL. 
Today, the
brain can be put into suspended animation using cryopreservation techniques
which  somewhat preserve the specific
arrangement of the material that makes up each cryonicist's brain.  With each cryopreservation and research over
time the cryopreservation process improves and the preservation of the
arrangement of brain materials gets better and better.
So, in
principle,  a person can become
physically immortal as long as they can preserve the instructions for  arranging  common atomic material needed to recreate their brain  some day in the future when technology allows.  
Today, many
potential forward time travelers are using cryopreservation techniques to
preserve the structure of their brain until scientists of the future can
develop medical engineering techniques to make these brains physically immortal,
resurrect and reanimate them, and provide a new body to physically support the
resurrected brain/mind/soul.
CONCLUSION.  
So the basic
ideas have not changes in our religious philosophy.  The religious *goals* of Venturists are still
the same as other modern and ancient religious goals; to avoid death and to
always try to do what is right.
Now we
realize that the brain is  the mind, the
mind is the soul.  If we preserve the
brain and advanced beings in the future resurrect it and reanimate it – then there
is for that brain/soul the prospect of physical immortality.  
So yes, Venturists
might have a  physically  immortal life if they are willing to take some
steps now to preserve the structure of their brain and arrange for it to travel
to the future via a form of cryo-suspended animation. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20120930/23347bf5/attachment.html>