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

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