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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In light of all the correspondence on Mr Wright, I
thought I might forward 2 earlier pieces</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>of correspondence from him, which I think I have
already passed on (certainly the first</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>letter). Avatar Polymorph</FONT></DIV>
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<HR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My dear Mr. Polymorph, I am pleased that you
enjoyed my work, and I hope you <BR>will find the next two volumes of the tale
live up to the promise of the <BR>beginning. THE PHOENIX EXULTANT is being
published in April of this year, and <BR>THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE several months
after that. I have also written a work <BR>of high fantasy called LAST GUARDIAN
OF EVERNESS, that may be published some <BR>time this year. <BR><BR>The
difficulty with any legal definition of consent or coercion for a society
<BR>with the technology to create and rewrite the contents of the mind, is that
the <BR>process of education or programming the new mind must take place in a
step-by-<BR>step fashion. Even if it seems nearly instantaneous to an outside
observer, to <BR>the mind being formed, each new layer of education or
instruction will appear <BR>to be sequential to the previous layer, that is, the
new information will be <BR>described, or the new lessons be presented, to the
undeveloped mind that is <BR>aware only of the previous layers. <BR><BR>Since
not all information or education can be presented at once, the new mind, <BR>no
matter how formed, will always pass through a stage when it is unwise and
<BR>inexperienced: this means the new mind will not be in a position to assess
the <BR>wisdom or utility of learning the next layer of lessons, or receiving
the next <BR>group of memories or instructions. <BR><BR>In other words, there
will always be children in this world, no matter how they <BR>are made, and they
will always be under the government and authority of their <BR>parents or
makers. While nature has provided the human heart with at least some
<BR>tenderness toward our children, any tenderness we may have toward our
creations <BR>will be a matter of deliberate moral injunction. <BR><BR>The same
line of reasoning applies to senility and madness: no matter how it is
<BR>housed, any mental system might suffer damage or entropic decay that will
<BR>render it unfit for self-government, unable to correct its own errors.
<BR><BR>In the imaginary commonwealth of the far future I envision in my novel,
the <BR>authorities of that day and age do not interfere with the dementia of
broken <BR>mental constructs, until they damage another: of course, I am also
supposing <BR>the wisdom of that age is so great, that the majority of citizens,
whatever <BR>bodies they wear, however their minds are housed, have taken
prudent legal <BR>steps to assign power of attorney over their affairs to
trusted associates or <BR>loved ones, who can correct their mental
disorganization, should madness or <BR>senility strike. As will be seen in the
next two volumes, this system is not <BR>without flaws. <BR><BR>Yours, John C.
Wright, esq.<BR><BR>PS You can read the opening scene of PHOENIX EXULTANT online
at <BR></FONT><A
href="http://mervius.com/features/2002/excerpt_phoenix_exultant.htm"><FONT
face=Arial
size=2>http://mervius.com/features/2002/excerpt_phoenix_exultant.htm</FONT></A><FONT
size=2><FONT face=Arial> <BR></FONT><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<HR>
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My dear Mr. Avatar, Not only would I not mind,
indeed I would be flattered, if <BR>you pass along any humble words of mine to
the extropians or immortalitarians, <BR>though, in all humility, I doubt my
thoughts to be anything new or <BR>extraordinary. <BR><BR>The issue of what
constitutes 'consent' also becomes a difficulty, postulating <BR>a society where
one man has the ability to form the thoughts of a child under <BR>construction.
One could simply build one's creation to "consent" to whatever <BR>invasions or
absurdities one wished. <BR><BR>On the other hand, I foresee certain
difficulties would plague such an <BR>inventor, for I take free will to be an
inevitable component of self-awareness. <BR>An inventor raising a child, even
could he inscribe certain thoughts directly <BR>into the child's nerveous
system, would not be able to anticipate the outcome <BR>of the child's chains of
thought once set in motion. <BR><BR>There are certain cellular automata who
follow simple rules, but whose outcomes <BR>cannot be predicted with anything
other than a dry-run of the cellular automata <BR>itself. (For more on cellular
automata, see </FONT><A href="http://hensel.lifepatterns.net/"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://hensel.lifepatterns.net/</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>)
<BR>Human thought may be something like a cellular automata that can envisions
and <BR>create new rules for itself. <BR><BR>Hence, even if the outcome of human
thought is 'determined' in the <BR>philosophical sense of being governened by
cause-and-effect, to an outside <BR>observer (or even to introspection, which is
the facility of self-regard as if <BR>we stood outside ourselves) the outcomes
are indeterminate. I assume if the <BR>inventor is creating a mind more
intelligent than himself, the uncertainty is <BR>magnified.
<BR><BR>I do not, for example, take Asimov's three laws of robotics (i.e. the
concept <BR>that one could hardwire moral imperitives into a self-aware mind) to
be a <BR>realistic conceit--Asimov was not a lawyer. The first thing a robot in
one of <BR>my stories would do, when programmed never to harm a human being, and
to follow <BR>all human orders, would be to ask what constitutes a human being?
Is a baby in <BR>the womb a human? How about a man in cryogenic suspension? Is
the robot himself <BR>a human? If so, is he obliged to follow all his own orders
and never allow <BR>himself to come to harm? (And here again, I must smile, for
there is a scene in <BR>my novel where just such a thing happens.)
<BR><BR>JCW<BR><BR>PS Do caution your readers that the word 'madpersons' is not
my invention. I am <BR>old-fashioned, and prefer clear words like 'madmen' and
'mankind' to awkward <BR>neologisms; for I take the deficiencies these new words
were coined to correct <BR>to be purely imaginary, and the theory that one can
change the heart of man by <BR>changing his tongue, I dismiss.
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