On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 8:09 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 27, 2019 at 7:10 AM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 12:44 AM 'Brent Meeker' via Everything List < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 2:42 PM Jason Resch <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> For example, you could, over time, change neuron by neuron, until you >>> looked like and had the mind of Julius Caesar. >>> >>> I think these thought experiments need to be more carefully considered. >>> I don't think it is nomologically possible to give you the mind of Julius >>> Caesar by transferring on neuron at a time. That would entail intermediate >>> stages in which neurons were connected neither as yours were nor as >>> Caesar's were, and less obviously the same goes for the connections of the >>> body cells. It is too cheap to just say "at the appropriate substitution >>> level". >>> >> >> It's a given that the intermediate stages are neither like you nor like >> Caesar. But if you can remain conscious/alive during the process, then >> "what happened to you", "did you die in the transformation?", etc. >> > > That's rather a big "if". It seems to me that one important difference > between your mind and that of Julius Caesar is the connections between > neurons. Just replacing one neutron at a time is not going to create/change > the necessary connections. Besides, do you have any evidence that any two > minds have exactly the same number of neurons? Piecewise replacement of > neurons will almost certainly destroy consciousness, even life -- the > intermediate stages will not correspond to any conscious or living person. > The neuron replacement includes creating the appropriate connections (as well as adding or subtracting neurons if necessary). Over time you can slowly morph one person's brain into another, if the brain is a just a physical object, then physical objects can be changed, sometimes radically. We may lack the technology now, but this is already possible today in software implementations of neural nets. Nothing prevents making adjustments to such a software neural net one connection at a time, until one "mind" becomes a totally different "mind". In fact alphago began with an entirely randomized neuron net, which though training was adjusted one neuronal connection weight at a time. > Overly simplistic thought experiments do not ever prove anything. > In science we never prove anything. We can only use our best arguments and evidence to hope we get closer to truth. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUhU8gERGGBoVxsatvp43ACx6PDS2o1u_O3ygPPk9%2B%2Bkgw%40mail.gmail.com.
