[extropy-chat] The Story of a Brain

[Bryan Moss]

Hal Finney wrote:

>So, what do you think?  Were they producing mental states by stimulating those neurons?  And if so, are they still produced when they just stand their and let their brains do the work of firing neurons?
>  
>

The central notion implicit in the argument, that mental states 
supervene on brain states with complete disregard for the physical 
properties of those brain states, is an absurd straw man.  Unless the 
"impulse cartridges" recreated the necessary physical mechanisms to 
replicate the mental states, the mental states would have been destroyed 
(or impaired) because the brain states upon which they supervene were 
destroyed (or impaired).  The final part of the argument, that we can 
move from a single neuron being stimulated to any single neuron, is 
therefore nonsensical: either they're replicating the mental states, in 
which case there are lots of individuals, or the mental states have been 
detroyed, in which case there are no individuals.

BM