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.

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