X-Message-Number: 11639 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: And just what Mike Perry and I are discussing, for others Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 23:56:40 +1000 (EST) Hi everyone! Since many may not at first understand just what Mike Perry and I are discussing, here is how it relates to cryonics. Some have suggested that we be brought back as computer simulations in an artificial world; the claim behind that suggestion is that our real world has no essential difference from a very good computer simulation of it. There are lots of extra problems, into which I will not go, in considering anything close to an accurate computer simulation of our world. But even supposing that we can come anywhere close, there is a second problem: we would then basically have a routine inside a computer program which is supposed to emulate US. I am claiming that this possibility is out of the question --- to be able to deal with the real world involves abilities which dealing with an artificial computer simulation, no matter how complex, cannot match. The major lack is the finitude of the computer program, no matter how large it may be, compared with the infinite character of the world (note that current ideas AND EXPERIMENTS in cosmology have made even the notion that our universe will come to an end look less and less likely). And that infinitude is not something which shows up only if you live for a long long time. It shows up every day, when we see something which we did not expect, something new and unpredictable. (Like the rational numbers versus the integers: infinity isn't just at the ends, it shows up between every number ... and in between the rational numbers we have others, too). If and when we can be revived, we will be revived not as computer programs but as real creatures living in the world. This may be both upsetting and gladdening: upsetting because we will likely find lots that we do not at first understand, gladdening because we have been revived and will live for far far longer than we ever expected when living at the end of the 20th Century. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11639