Hi Walter,
Summing up, no, Jones, it is unlikely that a LifeBox will ever
be built or that any human being will ever be able to visit the
essence of a deceased loved one inside the bowels of a computer.
Sorry.
Don't be sorry, Walter - after all, you are only human and it's
very normal for us hairless-apes, as the dominant species and top
of the food-chain for now, to want and desire above all else for
"things" to stay that way forever ... and you are merely
expressing that expected sentiment - somewhat out of desperation,
perhaps. But it is natural ... even if it is kind of a knee-jerk
reaction.
Logic, if it could ever be applied in a dispassionate way to our
developmental history - might indicate otherwise, however...
Hard to be objective, though - when it comes to the subject of
something "special" about our kind of intelligence. Roger Penrose
has been spinning his wheels on this task for some time, and
despite arguments more convoluted than some of his tiling
patterns, has largely failed to find any objective factor which
will deny the same intelligence we have- to our equally complex
creations, even if they are biological (in the sense of genetic
engineering) as opposed to mechanical - or perhaps even a chimera.
Many will always find it revolting to imagine that the
intelligence which we prize so much - and is our defining
characteristic as a species - is merely the "emergent property" of
simple arithmetic - that is: the emergent property of an
evolutionary increase in neutral capacity, combined with a few
other "connections" in the Burke sense like fingers and vocal
chords (as well as "connections" in the sense of society). Is that
all there is? connections?
Is that all there is .... to a brain? ...ask Miss Peggy (or maybe
Miss Piggy)
Jones
I used to think Peggy Lee's plaintive song was hopelessly maudlin,
but nowadays it seems ... err... hopefully maudlin? (and why was
she always called "Miss" - some kind of codeword?)
Peg sez:
"I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on
fire.
I'll never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me
up
in his arms and raced through the burning building out to the
pavement.
I stood there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world
go up in flames. And when it was all over I said to myself,
Is that all there is to a fire?"
Chorus:
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is
And when I was 12 years old, my father took me to a circus, the
greatest show on earth. There were clowns and elephants and
dancing bears.
And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads.
And so I sat there watching the marvelous spectacle.
I had the feeling that something was missing.
I don't know what, but when it was over,
I said to myself, "is that all there is to a circus?
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is
I know what you must be saying to yourselves,
if that's the way she feels about it why doesn't she just end it
all?
Oh, no, not me. I'm in no hurry for that final disappointment,
for I know just as well as I'm standing here talking to you,
when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my last breath,
I'll be saying to myself
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is
