[ExI] The Soul

[John Clark]

On Sun, Apr 26, 2020 at 4:46 PM Will Steinberg via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:


> *> In my opinion, I define the soul and the mind differently, and I am not
> sure if they are the same.The mind: we all know what this means, I think.
> An organized, conscious thing.*


And you thought that with your mind.


> *> **The soul: this one is tougher.  Let me see if I can devise some
> 'axioms of the soul':*
> *1. Presence: It must exist*
> *1 --> 2. Permanence: It must exist for non-trivial periods of time*
>

The same is true for mind, and for anything of practical importance.


> *> 3. Integration: Its parts must be part of a clearly defined system with
> boundaries.  *
>

That is also true for mind, and mind  is what a brain does, so the amount
of integration is determined by the number of connections between the parts
of the brain and the amount of time it takes for a signal to travel from
one part of the brain to another. And that's where this "we're all part of
one mind" stuff falls apart.

*> 2 + 3 --> 4. Closeness: given a permanence period A to B, the
> probability that the parts of the system are integrated in the same manner
> at B as they were at A must be much higher than the probability that they
> are integrated with foreign parts at B.*
>

I think you're saying distant parts must have less influence than nearby
parts, but that is not always true for computers or for biological brains.
Sometimes the information a part needs to complete a calculation is on the
other side of the brain; this slows things down but can't always be avoided
because you can't always predict what information you'll need to complete a
calculation before you've finished the calculation.

> *By this definition, an atom is a soul.  *
>

Then it's a bad definition. Meaning needs contrast, everything having a
soul is equivalent to nothing having a soul.

*> If telekinesis exists ...*
>

it would have been proven to everybody's satisfaction centuries if not
millennia ago.

John K Clark
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20200427/ce0408f6/attachment.htm>