<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><br></div>Bill,<br><br></div><div>I bet people once asked Galileo, why he was so interested in whether the sun went around the earth, or the other way around. He was probably constantly asked: Even if you knew such, what would you do with that information? It's all about knowing what the future will be like, and being able to make preparations for, and decisions, based on good information.<br></div><div><br></div>I'd bet you are a tetrachromat, and represent your visual knowledge, like most of us, with 3 primary colors. Do you have any interest in knowing, qualitatively, what bichromat, and even more phenomenal, tetrachromat visual information is qualitatively like? Do you care if someone might have drastically different qualitative knowledge than you....? Are you interested in knowing, qualitatively, what it is like to be a bat? In fact, is zombie physics good enough for you, our would you also like to know the qualitative nature of the entire world?<br><br></div>Oh, and it has to do with the future, and making salvation decisions based on future possibilities. Most people think that they are "spirits" just inhabiting their bodies, when in reality, what they think are spirits, are just knowledge of such, inhabiting knowledge of their bodies. All of this dependent on the brain. All these kinds of people know there is something more to physical bodies and consciousness that zombie physics. So, claiming that is all there is, has no effect on them. But if you could experimentally prove to them, that they don't have ghosts that can survive without a brain, they just have knowledge of such, made of phenomenal qualites.<br><br></div><div>When you think of being uploaded, what do you think it might, or could be like? Is it just a matter of creating a new and improved copy of yourself, and then destroying the old one? People know there is a big problem with that kind of thinking? Or is knowing, what that new and improved consciousness of yours will be like, is critically important, is it not? Is it not important that your knowledge of your spirit, be able to traverse between brains...? Knowing how to 'eff' the ineffable, and how to solve the problems of other minds is what this stuff is all about.<br></div><div><br></div>If people have a better understanding of what they are, they can make far better decisions, like choosing cryonic preservation, on which their eternal salvation is dependent.<br><br>Brent Allsop<br><br><br><div><div><br><div><div><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:stathisp@gmail.com" target="_blank">stathisp@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class=""><br><br>On Sunday, February 15, 2015, William Flynn Wallace <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com" target="_blank">foozler83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Here is my question: even if you could identify the exact electrical and chemical goings-on in the brain when a person experiences some sensation, what exactly will you know? How will it help you know something else? We know, for ex., that the amygdala is involved in emotions, particularly anger. How does that help us understand anger and how to deal with it? I am not saying that it is a waste of time, I just want to know what you intend to do with the answers?<br><br>bill w</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></span>We have treatments for neurological and psychiatric conditions that are based on an understanding of the brain.<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><span></span><br><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 9:57 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <span dir="ltr"><<a>stathisp@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><br><br>On Sunday, February 15, 2015, John Clark <<a>johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 Stathis Papaioannou <span dir="ltr"><<a>stathisp@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:</div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">> Brent believes that consciousness is not due to the system structure but rather to the substrate.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>If computers with the same logical structure but with different substrates (say vacuums tubes, Germanium transistors and Silicon transistors) all came up with different answers when you multiplied 27 by 54 I'd have a lot more confidence that this theory is correct, but they don't, they all come up with 1458. Actually calling this a theory is giving it too much credit as there is no experiment that can be performed to prove it wrong, or even a experiment that would allow you to learn a little more about it. </div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></div></div><div>There are experiments that can be performed - try a physically different, but <span></span>chemically identical substrate using alternative isotopes. It would work just the same, proving that working just the same is what is important, and not what the parts are made of.</div><span><font color="#888888"><br><br>-- <br>Stathis Papaioannou<br>
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</blockquote><br><br></div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">-- <br>Stathis Papaioannou<br>
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