X-Message-Number: 7987
Date:  Tue, 01 Apr 97 09:42:48 
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: 3 Topics

1. Self-Circuit

I have a book, *The Hedonistic Neuron* by A. Harry Klopf (Hemisphere 
Publishing Corp., 1982) that advances the hypothesis that the seat of 
consciousness (including feeling) is the midbrain-thalamic reticular 
formation or MTRF. I'm not sure if this has been confirmed or refuted 
by more recent research (anybody have info?). But there is a 
possible candidate for the self-circuit. On the other hand, I'm not 
sure to what extent the MTRF is subject to information accumulation 
and/or other modifications over time. Even though it may be the seat 
of feeling, it still may be relatively easy to replace--thus not one 
of the important parts to preserve in cryonic suspension  (though for 
practical reasons we would preserve it along with the rest of the 
brain). 


2. Universal Language

I will propose a universal language, and a simple (if slightly 
technical) argument for why such a language ought to be possible. The 
language: Lisp, which can express computer programs but could also be 
used to encode mathematical theorems, physics, etc. Of course, any 
other reasonable computer language would do too--all can be converted 
into each other via polynomial-time algorithms. (I think Lisp, or 
something like it, would make an especially good choice due to
the simple syntax and programming philosophy.)

If we assume our advanced aliens have computers, and (what goes
with them) a reasonable subset of known mathematics including
integer arithmetic, then they too should 
have programming languages that could be converted to ours or vice 
versa via polynomial-time algorithms. This does not assume the aliens 
have any particuar sensory apparatus such as vision, etc. But our 
messages, which they would receive, would be encoded in a bit stream. 
The aliens would naturally be curious about such messages (it is 
reasonable to speculate) and would try various programs of 
theirs to convert these messages into something intelligible to them. 
Since the possible programs can be effectively enumerated, after a 
finite amount of trying they should find a successful translation 
program, whose correctness would be verified over and over as they 
processed more and more of our messages.


3. Immortalist Publishing House:

I am interested in setting up a publishing 
operation, and getting rights to out-of-print books that relate to 
the theme of immortalism. These are books that "mainstream" 
publishers are not eager to keep in print, due to the currently small 
interest, but still they are important books that ought to be 
available for those interested. (Example: Bob Ettinger's *The 
Prospect of Immortality*.) Anybody with ideas or proposals, your 
contribution is welcome.


Mike Perry

http://www.alcor.org

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