Hi Ian, as a postgraduate at Liverpool i studied with Barry Dainton who has continued the tradition, beginning with the Scottish philosopher David Hume, of using thought experiments to explore the nature of personal identity. Barry envisions the use of matter transportation devices like those imagined in Star Trek to separate elements of identity until a core experience remains. Barry's seminars were some of the most fun i had the privilege to attend, and his groups had a whale of a time. Great fun, and serious underlying ideas. (Barry has also made free use of the brains in vats scenario, following on from Daniel Dennet i believe? I don't recall any of those attending these lectures and seminars shouting down the lecturer for being a mad bastard!) My experiment hoped to do something similar for morals in the moq, but it seems to have got a bit heated almost right from the get go.
This worries me because it feels rather similar to fanaticism. People who know they are right make me feel uneasy - i prefer to try and be a free thinker. squonk. I get it DMB, SA quite rightly corrected me. Let's be clear, as a "thought experiment" then it's dangerous but interesting ground - good stuff, if we are careful with each other about those dangers. As a proposed real life project - physical / surgical sensory deprivation of infants - moral madness would be a good word for it DMB, I'd agree - whoever suggested it. But let's be clear it is considered "normal" in most cultures to "manage" what our offspring experience. (I interjected because of the question aimed at me re the "brain in a vat" references, after having been offline for several days. The brain-in-a-vat exercise starts with a disembodied brain - it doesn't start by creating one from a whole viable human - a different set of moral questions.) Take it away, Squonk. I'm listening now, honest ;-) Ian Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
