On Mon, Jul 29, 2019 at 8:49 PM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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). > That is not a well-defined procedure -- too many ambiguities remain. > 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. > That does not demonstrate that the intermediate stages correspond to anything sensible. > 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. > Are you sure that it was just one connection weight at a time? Bruce -- 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/CAFxXSLTLrYbjyLDfGqW2CMSTstiErSmu9X4LhEKNrJGw7dp3aQ%40mail.gmail.com.
