<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br>
<div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yes, very good. The point is that true and false are abstract human categories (just like selfhood...and Napolean). Reality has no truck with such things. We can only speak subjectively, and in doing that we have to admit that our own context in asserting true or false may be denied as valid by another. There is no "true" or "false" out there. There is no Napolean out there. It's a mental construct which people define in different ways to suit different purposes. It's entirely irrelevant how we answer the question, it
changes nothing. A clear cut answer will serve only to obfuscate matters further by confusing people into thinking that there is such black and whiteness.<br><br>Hope this makes things less muddy ;)<br><br><br>and apologies for sending this straight to your own address initially again Lee - Yahoo's being inconsistent with this list for some reason.<br><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">----- Original Message ----<br>From: Lee Corbin <lcorbin@rawbw.com><br>To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br>Sent: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 5:19:16 PM<br>Subject: Re: [ExI] Uploading and selfhood<br><br>
Michael writes<br><br>> Lee said<br>> <br>>> [Concerning the following simple inquiry under the hypothesis<br>>> that a following a devastating plague, a certain "lunatic" now <br>>> living in a mental institution in the U.S. who believes himself<br>>> to be the same person as Napoleon I of France, is the sole<br>>> survivor on Earth]<br>>><br>>> The Emperor Napoleon (1769- ), formerly of France, but<br>>> now living in a certain city in the U.S., turned out to be the<br>>> last living human on Earth?<br>>> <br>>> Well, is that true or false? <br>> <br>> Sometimes matters don't divide up neatly into those two words.<br><br>Why, naturally, of course. Haven't you heard that there are "shades<br>of gray"? Or rather, perhaps you suppose that some of us have<br>never heard the phrase, or mastered the notion of a
continuum.<br><br>But seriously, does this mean that you *also* do not lean one way<br>or another towards accepting or rejecting the above statement? <br><br>> In fact, probably most of the time [matters don't divide up<br>> neatly into those two words].<br><br>Oh? An assertion by you? May I infer that you believe your assertion<br>to be true, or would that also fall into the category of things that cannot<br>be so simply characterized as "true" or "false"?<br><br>But then, there I go again. Asking for yes or no.... :-)<br><br>Lee<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>extropy-chat mailing list<br><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank" href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a><br></div><br></div></div><br>
<hr size="1">You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47523/*http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com">one month of Blockbuster Total Access</a>, No Cost.</div><br>
<br></div></div><br>
<hr size="1">You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47523/*http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com">one month of Blockbuster Total Access</a>, No Cost.</div><br></div></div><br>
<hr size=1>You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47523/*http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com">one month of Blockbuster Total Access</a>, No Cost.</body></html>