X-Message-Number: 11152 Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 10:39:07 -0500 From: "Raphael T. Haftka" <> Subject: Do we have to choose between meat and computers? Thomas Donaldson made a good point that one should disassociate the question of identity from the question of duplication. Instead of the destruction of the first self that he proposes, I think that there is also a chance of a slow migration to a different medium. In particular, I expect that the migration to non protoplasm memory may not be that far off. Here are the steps that I see in my crystal ball (murky as it is). 1. Computers that can communicate directly with our brains through electrical impulses. These will probably be developed first for severely handicapped people. 2. People getting used to store factual information on a computer they wear on their belt or on their head, because communication is so easy. 3. Communication upgraded to allow people to store the signals from their eyes, ears, nose and taste buds in computer memories for later retrieval. People getting used to replaying past events with perfect fidelity. 4. Communication upgraded to allow people to store some forms of thoughts and feelings. 5.Use of protoplasm memories decling gradually to nothing. I do not claim that silicon(?) memories will have the same texture and feel as the protoplasm ones. However, they will have so many advantages in terms of fidelity and ease of access that people will migrate to them anyhow. Note that the same type of migration happened once in history with the invention of writing. We sometimes marvel at the memory feats of ancient bards who passed orally from one generation to the next the history and mythology of their tribes. People living today do not develop the kind of memory that these illiterates had. Rafi Haftka ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Raphael (Rafi) Haftka University of Florida phone:352-392-9595 Department of Aerospace Engineering, fax: -7303 Mechanics and Engineering Science http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~haftka Gainesville, FL 32611 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Check the web page of the International Society of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization at http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~issmo for details of the next MicroAV competition as well as the next ISSMO Congress in Buffalo, May 17-21 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11152