On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 8:32 PM Brent Meeker <meekerbr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> A soul is unique but information can be duplicated. > > > *> Not if it's quantum, i.e. in qubits,* > It's true that a qubit can't be duplicated (although it can be transported) but the thing that makes you be you must be conventional information not quantum information. Everybody has a few radioactive elements in their body, potassium being the most important, and every second about 5000 of those unstable nuclei decay. So, even if we ignore the far larger effect of the external environment constantly interacting with you, your body enters a different quantum state every 1/5000 of a second. And if Many Worlds is correct then every second you split into 5000 different worlds that are almost, but not quite, identical with this one. Yet in spite of all that you feel that, apart from sleeping, your subjectivity has been continuous and you still feel like you. > * > which it may soon be after you're uploaded to Google's newest > computer.* > Who knows, if I'm very lucky I might be uploaded into a quantum computer, but there is no evidence the human brain is a quantum computer and there are very strong reasons to suggest it is not. The brain is much too hot and chaotic, a quantum computer needs much calmer conditions. And we are even worse than conventional computers at doing things that quantum computers are especially good at, like factoring large numbers or simulating complex quantum systems (like any atom heavier than hydrogen) to figure out exactly what it will do. Even crude approximations are very difficult to do without the help of a computer. John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis> eca > The soul is and will always remain unfathomable, but information is > understandable, in fact information is the ONLY thing that is > understandable. > Information unambiguously exists, I don't think anyone would deny that, > but even if the soul exists it will never be proven scientifically. > > So do I agree with "TESCREAL"? I don't know, but I do know two things, I > don't like acronyms and I don't agree with Charlie Stross. > > > -- 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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv1%3DVTF5XLoeOemc6YNJ4CYFEJ5SfpAk3uc_iXeMZo0f_Q%40mail.gmail.com.
