<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">I see that few people want to tackle the problem of calling most of humanity, those who are religious, idiots. Maybe we can see this as a function of manners. We are perhaps going to think that they are all morons, but have the manners to keep our opinions to ourselves, or at the very least, use that language when we are certain who we are communicating thinks like we do. In any case, calling someone a moron does no good at all and might do some serious harm. Like start another jihad. Unlike some I have talked with, I believe that anyone who is human deserves at least a small amount of respect (which upon future actions could be lost).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 5:55 PM Will Steinberg <<a href="mailto:steinberg.will@gmail.com">steinberg.will@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 15:15 John Clark <<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 10:40 AM Will Steinberg <<a href="mailto:steinberg.will@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">steinberg.will@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">The atoms in a brain can perform calculations because they are organized in the only way that can, the way Alan Turing described. The atoms in Earth are not. </font></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">There are MANY atoms in the brain that do not perform calculations. From molecules of cerebrospinal fluid to structural cells like glia or microtubules, though those may very well end up implicated in cognition.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Similarly, just because parts of Earth aren't directly computing (and that negation itself is a potentially dubious claim) doesn't mean that they aren't implicated in computation. Plus, what about the noncomputable? Cf. The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The point is, what separates a brain or brains from Earth? Nothing.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">If some aliens only saw Earth as a black box, at a certain resolution, and they sent a meteor at us, and the world responded as one by sending a missile to hit the meteor, the aliens would deduce correctly that the Earth performed a calculation.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Furthermore, those brains are just the current endpoints of a 4D structure that has 'nonconscious' Earth in its past. As Sagan said, in order to make an apple pie, you must first create the universe.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">He is hinting at the interconnected and supremely conditional nature of all things.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">And no, the comic wasn't smart. I'm honestly shocked that an intelligent person like yourself has such a low bar for something being 'smart'. It was low-hanging fruit at best. Phoned in. As the funnies pages tend to be.</div><div dir="auto"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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