[geeks] [rescue] consciousness immortality [was: Sun Sparcstation 20 hard disks]

[Phil Stracchino]

On 08/26/11 15:05, Sandwich Maker wrote:
> [redirecting to geeks]
> " From: Mouse <mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG>
> " We don't yet know.  For all we
> " know, it may turn out that during the time that both the CHON you and
> " the silicon you exist, they will share a single mind.
> 
> unity is a promising concept, but -- here's a nightmare for ya:
> 
> suppose that, after years of happy fusion, one day the organic part
> of you dies -- and the silicon part of you discovers that there was
> something you were able to do before which you now can't, and you
> can't even remember exactly what it was...

This also raises more interesting questions.

Suppose it turns out you *can* have a single consciousness existing
simultaneously, mirrored or distributed across both organic and silicon
substrates, or otherwise in some form combining both software and
wetware.  The next question becomes, *how many* software copies can be a
part of this consciousness?  And can they act independently from the
wetware copy?  Can they go on to spawn their own copies, and if so, do
those become equal parts of the entire gestalt?



-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
  Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, SQL wrangler, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.