X-Message-Number: 25292 Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 09:17:47 -0800 Subject: Thomas' Law of Matter-Record Transformation From: <> Dear Thomas: "It seems that RBR and his followers believe that by asking them to truly argue for their beliefs I am failing to understand them deliberately." You don't understand me. You associate properties with my definition of QE that it does not have. I'm not even sure you read my messages, as I could generate your e-mails from a script that accepts no input. In fact, I'm quite confident there won't be a single reference to this paragraph in your next message. At least with Mike and Scott, they have some idea of what I am trying to say, even if they have not sufficiently thought through the implications of it---which results in them presenting thought experiments that are not valid. In your case, you have no idea what I am trying to say. You wrote: "I will ask again, but with the question that Mike Perry has come up with: just why is it not the case that your QR is preserved by an instantaneous change into another form?" More alchemy. You assume here you can 'transform' a hunk of matter into a record. Matter can be converted to energy---it cannot be converted into a record, unless you wish to propose some new physical law previously unknown to the scientific community. The most you can do is jot notes about the configuration of a hunk of matter. These notes, or blueprint, can be used (by you, or someone who interprets them the same way as you) to reconstruct a similar hunk of matter. This does not constitute the transformation of a physical system into a record. The original hunk of matter still exists as a hunk of matter. [snip] You wrote: "I want not just the repeated claim that it's not the same, but an argument supporting that claim." I want to see the law that permits you to transform matter into records. I want the exact law, like E = m c^2, and references to peer reviewed journals in which the falsifiable predictions of the law are tested and validated. [snip] "And a means by which I could find out whether or not I had the same QE as I had yesterday (before I spent the night sleeping) would also be useful here." How would you proceed if you wanted to determine if a piece of fruit on your kitchen countertop survived the night, and was the same piece of fruit as the night before? One way is to place a video camera on the fruit, to see if it is destroyed and recreated, or perhaps just replaced with a different one. In a similar way, place an IR camera on your head. Since the QE is some complex neural circuit in your head, destroying it would involve breaking down numerous chemical bonds, which would release great quantities of heat, and be visible on an IR camera. An MRI device or other scanning technology would also suffice. [snip] Best Regards, Richard B. R. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25292