X-Message-Number: 20259 Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 08:44:23 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #20254 - #20258 for Mark Plus: About the future of "death", you say some things which I agree with completely and others I find doubtful. First of all, the superiority of "electrical machines" over "organic machines" such as us isn't clear at all. The major advantage that organic machines have is an ability at self-repair, which in our case will become more and more over time. Moreover, life forms do one major thing our machines do not do: they can repair themselves. As for speed, life forms have been around for billions of years, and large for millions of years. If speed of reaction were important, then they would have evolved much more electrical and fewer chemical connections. I come from a math and physics background, but would have to say that the more I look at life forms the more I think that supposed faults may actually contain hidden advantages. Oh yes, one more thing. Neural nets in the computer sense are certainly useful devices, but they don't really imitate the way our own nets of neurons work. Nor is it true that any kind of machine (no matter how made) will be immune from serious damage. Just go visit a yard of wrecked cars & think about what it says. Just a few brief comments about our future life. Best and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20259