Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
From: ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk (Oliver Sparrow)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!demon!chatham.demon.co.uk!ohgs
Subject: Re: neural to neural interfaces
References: <1994Sep16.164338.940@figmnt.tayloru.edu> <35kcoo$qpg@tadpole.fc.hp.com> <1994Sep20.175551.967@figmnt.tayloru.edu> <35pjto$aag@tadpole.fc.hp.com>
Organization: Royal Institute of International Affairs
Reply-To: ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Demon Internet Simple News v1.27
Lines: 28
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 1994 08:12:11 +0000
Message-ID: <780221531snz@chatham.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk

Following this somewhat aetherial thread I find discussion of mind-mind]
communication leads us to overnight backups: ("life is but an archive of
tape streamers. We pluck here, we pluck there; and soon all is gone." Cut to
overlay of Mount Fuji and something twanging, plagently.)

Consider the following: that as essentially identical architectures, we 
spontaneously develop something which each of us experiences as awareness.
It would be ridiculous - without strong evidence to the contrary - to assume
that this experience differs between us. We may experience different things; 
and the intepretive software that is running may be different but the 
*experience* of being is propably identical across individuals, across the
primates and probably very similar amongst the vertebrates. The sense of being 
"me" is therefore replicated billions of times. Sometimes "me" is happy, 
sometimes sad, sometimes eaten and sometime carnivore.

All is one, bruvver; and probably more so than is comfortable. The next person 
or dog that you encounter, think to yourself that their sense of being 
themselves feels exactly like my sense of being me: if one could toggle between 
the two experiences, there would be no perceptible shift in the fundamental 
sense of being, however much the data, information, all the things 
which we call "personality" may vary. Now, try the implications of that one 
your next steak.


_________________________________________________

  Oliver Sparrow
  ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk
