X-Message-Number: 8133 Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:24:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CRYONICS Very very important questions On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, John K. Clark asked: > I've asked this question before but never got an answer, Do you think I'm > conscious? Hey, I'm still waiting for an answer to the question I asked, weeks ago: Does my cat have a self-circuit? And since we all have so much time to spend on these very important questions (following the disappearance of Olga Visser), I would also like to ask (again), Is an ape that has learned symbolic language conscious? If the ape says that it's conscious, does it know what it means, better than I know what I mean, when I say that I'm conscious? How can I be sure that the ape is not just pretending to be conscious? And how can I be sure that the ape is not a robot cunningly built from materials identical to those used in a real ape? How do I know that I'm not such a robot? How do I know that Robert Ettinger is not such a robot? I submit there is no possible way to answer any of these questions, which makes this debate a REALLY big waste of time. Grouchily, --CP Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8133