Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site wucs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!wucs!esk From: esk@wucs.UUCP (Eric Kaylor) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: sentience and 'meat' Message-ID: <560@wucs.UUCP> Date: Mon, 10-Dec-84 22:41:54 EST Article-I.D.: wucs.560 Posted: Mon Dec 10 22:41:54 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 11-Dec-84 07:39:20 EST Distribution: net Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, CS Dept. Lines: 23 [] From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry) > I'm sure if I were uploaded to a silicon brain I would change, and change > in ways that would not have occurred if I hadn't been moved to different > hardware. But, hey, I change every day, anyway. Whatever changes occurred > would, I think, be gradual enough that I would still have the continuous > sensation of "selfness". My point was that silicon is so different that you would have no reason to expect *any* sensations at all; that is, our sentience would seem to be tied up with the particular type of "meat" found in animals' brains. Can anybody argue against such a connection? > I'm already a far different entity than I was > when I was 5, for instance; not only externally, but also in my experience > of my own selfness. Am I the *same* person? Does it matter? No to the latter question. Nevertheless, being sentient (able to feel) matters a great deal. --the once and future flink@umcp-cs, Paul V. Torek, ihnp4!wucs!wucec1!pvt1047 Please send any mail directly to this (last) address, not the sender's.