Mark Peaty wrote:
> Brent: 'However, all that is needed for the arguments that appear on
> this list is to recreate a rough, functioning copy of the body plus a
> detailed reproduction of memory and a brain that functioned
> approximately the same. That much might not be too hard. After all, as
> Stathis points out, you're not the same atoms you were a week ago'
>
> MP: Well! I'm not going to let YOU pull the levers or press any buttons
> if I have to be faxed anywhere soon! You make philosophers'
> copy-machines sound like props for Frankenstein's Monster or that movie
> 'The Fly'. Furthermore " ... memory and a brain that functioned
> approximately the same" would seem to be rather less than what Bruno's
> arguments about copying require.
All that Bruno's argument requires is that the copy be conscious and think it's the same.
>But my point is that, whilst the ideas
> are cute, they are also nonsense any way.
It's a thought experiment - it's not supposed to be a real problem.
>Most people have problems
> enough living from day to day, and the only time that 'copying' of a
> person really has any relevance is where surgery or prosthetic
> augmentation of some kind really should be done to alleviate suffering
> or prevent premature death.
>
> As for Stathis's assertion about seemingly minor changes which commonly
> occur to people's brains as they get older, like the odd little stroke
> here and there, it is always a question of the facts in each case. Some
> deficiencies turn out to be crucial in terms of quality of life: loosing
> the use of one or two fingers could be annoying, embarrassing and on
> occasion quite dangerous. Losing the ability to remember the names of
> all the people you know, would likewise not be nice. On the other hand,
> losing the ability to recognise things on the left side of your world,
> or losing the ability to see the people you knew before as being THOSE
> people such that you become convinced that the person you are with is a
> substitute, now that could be very dysfunctional and very distressing. I
> have seen it written that in fact most people who survive past middle
> age, do in fact suffer from 'micro' strokes quite often but usually the
> perceived experience is that of progressively weakened memory. Not
> Alzheimer's which is a league of its own, but just difficulty
> remembering certain things.
I have a devastatingly insightful analysis of this - which unfortunately has slipped by mind (I'm 67 :) )
Brent Meeker
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Received on Fri Jan 05 2007 - 14:39:17 PST