RFOWLER@SIMTEL20.ARPA (09/21/85)
From: Ron Fowler <RFOWLER@SIMTEL20.ARPA> I think the heart of the question about the continuity of consiousness (or "self") in re-creation of the information contained in the brain must await a more consise definition of "consiousness". The subject seems to be avoided in the popular science literature, but it's fun to speculate. I've personally been exposed to two very different schools of thought: 1) The metaphysical view: the "self" is an extra-physical phenomonon, and, though existing within the framework of the material universe, is somehow independant of it. Consiousness cannot be defined in terms of anything that has a physical existance in the universe, and each "self" is unique. 2) Consiousness is nothing more than a configuration of information contained within a human brain, and will eventually be described (and by inference, replicated?) fully in terms of information theory. I've seen little evidence for the first viewpoint, and most of the arg- uments in its favor seem to be a little tainted by the obvious desire to express something as personal as the "self" in mystical terms (to be expected, I suppose, since it's a mystical viewpoint. But how can a metaphysical theory be quantized in a physical universe? Hard to nail it down ... ). The latter view seems to have more reliable credentials: for example, physical damage to the human brain can cause drastic personality mod- ification; drugs reacting chemically within the brain have the same effect. This seems to imply that a sufficiently sophisticated infor- mation science can duplicate (and create anew) human personality. Maybe the two ideas can be combined: if all the information in my brain were precisely replicated within the guts of a computer, and that com- puter had outside-world sensors, would my "self" begin receiving infor- mation from both my own "sensors" *and* the computer's? A tantalizing question ... move the computer to the surface of Mars, fire it up, and I can close my eyes and take part in another world, without ever leav- ing my comfortable chair by the fireplace ... make 50 copies of the computer, and drive me insane with an overflow of sensory input ... "play" my information into an "erased" brain in another body or 2, and I can be in two places at once. On the other hand, a "self" may not be unique, and these copies may feel no more "duality" than fraternal twins ... -------