X-Message-Number: 22316
Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2003 15:56:00 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Feeling in Inorganic Substrates; Survival

Robert Ettinger, #22310, and my responses:

>Mike Perry mentions the artificial hippocampus under development, and writes
>in part:
>
> > More generally, the use of artificial brain components, or
> > outright uploading of the personality elements into some sort of
> > programmable device, could be a fast track to physical immortality,
>
>Most of the brain is just housekeeping or ancillary elements, including
>cognitive functions, ordinary memory, and the kind of "memory" that 
>constitutes
>habit or personality. But the essence of being, as far as I can figure, is 
>in the
>mechanism of subjectivity or the nature of qualia, the anatomy and physiology
>of feeling. Nothing can substitute in ALL respects for a hydrogen atom, and
>probably nothing can substitute in all respects, or in the essential respect,
>for an organic basis of feeling.

Well, if something could substitute in *all* respects for a hydrogen atom, 
you could just as well call it a hydrogen atom (identity of 
indiscernibles). So there is just one sort of thing that is a hydrogen 
atom. However, I would not jump from this to conclude that "probably 
nothing can substitute ..., in the essential respect, for an organic basis 
of feeling."

As one thought experiment, we might imagine replacing different components 
of the brain of a (willing) subject with artificial (inorganic) 
counterparts, but gradually, over a period of time. Each change is a very 
small one, maybe only a tiny clump of neurons. After the changeover, the 
subject reports feeling fine and seems, in all essential respects, no 
different from someone with purely organic hardware, nor to have 
experienced any personality change as a result of the modification. Suppose 
this goes on until the entire brain is replaced. The subject still seems to 
be a normal human and still, psychologically, the same person as 
originally, based on careful tests and observations, using every available 
technology as necessary. We would have to conclude that, if there was a 
substantial change, it is not a detectable one, unless we invoke the 
possibility that more advanced technology might yet find a difference. This 
last alternative may never be completely ruled out. But I think that in the 
future there will often be reasons to discount it, much as today we don't 
worry over whether we can survive a nap.

So if we could carry out the replacement as envisioned, we would have good 
grounds for thinking the essential elements of personality, including 
feeling, can be captured in inorganic materials. It remains to be seen 
whether this will be practical, though I for one am hopeful. (And I hope it 
will not take too long, the sooner the better to minimize loss of life, 
since this is a potentially life-saving technology. Some refinements could 
also be introduced, such as more rapid replacement of components, 
particularly in emergency cases.) One reason I am hopeful is seen, for 
example, in the music industry, where electronic imitations of traditional 
instruments are getting better and better. Not only that, but there are 
many other musical possibilities being realized electronically that could 
not happen without the new technology. I think this is suggestive of 
possibilities for our own personal existence. If all goes well we can both 
keep our humanity, but in more durable form, and expand and refine it, all 
by abandoning the old, organic substrate which, despite its marvels, is 
probably not the "last word" in things of this nature.

I also think the "essence of being," if you mean one's personal identity, 
requires more than just feeling, unless your definition of "feeling" is 
expanded beyond the usual borders. For "you" of today to survive in a 
future version of you *requires* that that future version have memories, or 
some consciously discernible traces, of you of today. But that's another 
story (see my book)--enough for now.

Mike Perry

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