On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 8:14 AM, Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be> wrote:
> Hi Stephen Lin, > > > On 06 Jun 2011, at 08:26, Stephen Lin wrote: > > Hi all, >> >> If you generalize this further, doesn't it imply that the universal >> dove tailer is all of existence, taking turns computing each other? So >> "you" and the "universe around you" take turns computing each other >> one step at time. >> > > Yes that is the theory under consideration. But you should say: "all of the > needed ontological existence". A big part of existence is also > epistemological. Indeed, the point is that the physical laws and universe > are epistemological, and derivable from machine's psychology (or theology). > This makes comp a scientific theory in the common Popperian sense. Some > physical observable facts might contradict comp, but up to now, we can say > that quantum physics rather confirms the comp assumption. With > computationalism (which is just the digital form of Descartes mechanism) > most of quantum weirdness (including the possibility of quantum computation) > are derivable from arithmetic. My question is: are hamiltonians physical or > geographical? Same question for the physical constants. > > > > > >> In fact, that means, any two people in the world may actually be the >> "same" person, except taking steps computing each other one step at a >> time. >> > > This might depend by what you mean by "person". > > > > > > So you and "I" might be exactly the same person, under some >> appropriate coordinate transformation! >> > > > I tend to believe that "personal identity" is an "illusion", like primary > matter or physicalism. We might be all the universal machine (for which > there is already a notion of personhood), with different experiences. But > this can only be interesting if we can sense this in a way or another, when > alive or dead. Drugs providing amnesia might be interesting with that > respect. > > If there are omega point civilizations whose explore the universe of possible conscious states, and who share and swap experiences as we do with videos on youtube, then they serve as hubs connecting all persons. Consider a god or demi-god with access to infinite computational power (perhaps it began as a technical civilization but in a universe where unlimited energy can be created and dissipated). Perhaps it chooses to simulate every possible experience and incorporate it into his own. Then there is a path for any conscious being to wake up as that god. More succinctly: For those who believe an omniscient god exists somewhere, then that god knows what it is like to be you, and you cannot distinguish whether you in this moment are him or you. This is similar to the Hindu belief in Atman, and also leads directly to a basis for karma and the golden rule: Be nice to others as one day you will experience things from their perspective. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
