X-Message-Number: 22318 Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 10:07:29 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #22312 - #22316 Here Mike Perry and I go at it again: It's all very well to talk of replacing the "organic" components of our brain with "inorganic" ones, but actually doing so raises a multitude of problems. Brains do not work like any computers presently existing. It's not even clear that Turing's ideas apply to them, since some and perhaps all of their processors are subject to constant replacement. The processors I mention are neurons, which have several different types, each acting as a tiny computer in itself but serving several different roles depending n their type. For that matter, connections between neurons (synapses) don't remain constant, unlike those of normal computers. Just what Perry means by "organic" here become more and more vague the more we think about how brains really work. Nor could machines of any kind (including electronic machines) give us any sort of immortality: it is living things that can repair themselves, while repair or replacement of any kind of machinery becomes much more cumbersome (at a minimum) and impossible at worst. If you want immortality, then work out how we can repair ourselves much more extensively than we now can (and neuroscientists are working now on ways to help brains repair themselves). Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=22318