On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 13:31:45 -0600, Ron Baker, Pluralitas! wrote
(in article <BoOld.84952$Kl3.49034@twister.socal.rr.com>):

"Thinkit" <greg_finch2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2db4f40b.0411141048.7bb3ace0@posting.google.com...

Hi, it's me--the hexadecimal guy. Well, I'm on to something much
bigger. The singularity--that is when you've replaced the brain by an
engineered machine. How do most atheists feel about this? I am atheist
(bordering on deism), and to me this is the real heaven. It's not a
fairy tale--this will happen and it will change everything.

Replacing your brain is bound to be an improvement.

2 to 3 pounds of used cat litter as a replacement would be a vast improvement
for his/her/its brain.

At least the cat litter would be used, his/her/its brain hasn't been.

"Robibnikoff" <witchypoo@broomstick.com> writes:

"Thinkit" <greg_finch2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2db4f40b.0411141048.7bb3ace0@posting.google.com...

Hi, it's me--the hexadecimal guy. Well, I'm on to something much
bigger. The singularity--that is when you've replaced the brain by an
engineered machine. How do most atheists feel about this?

Science fiction.

At the moment, yes. But we're already field-testing replacement
brain parts for the simpler functions, like vision and the transference
of memory to long-term storage.

Thirty years ago, there were few hopes for cancer and "he had a
heart attack" was synonymous with "he died." This is no longer true. I
carry in my pocket in a slim, elegant case computing power that weighed
fifteen pounds in 1984 and filled a building in 1950. There are
promising treatments for diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's in the
works, and cervical cancer is about to become a thing of the past.

All of that was "science fiction" in the 1950's.

Thinkit is a moron and always has been. "The Singularity" is
hardly what he describes, but it is a real subject worthy of study.

Elf

In our last thrilling episode, "Robibnikoff"
<witchypoo@broomstick.com> was pushed over the cliffs of alt.atheism
on Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:31:06 -0500 by Zoog, minion of Zathar. As he
fell, he screamed:

"Thinkit" <greg_finch2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2db4f40b.0411141048.7bb3ace0@posting.google.com...

Hi, it's me--the hexadecimal guy. Well, I'm on to something much
bigger. The singularity--that is when you've replaced the brain by an
engineered machine. How do most atheists feel about this?

Science fiction.

Going to the moon, communications satellites, and cell phones were all
science-fiction at one point. Now they're realities.

Hans Moravec has been writing on this subject for sometime. The idea
is interesting, up load your brain into a computer that simulates the
neural connections, allowing you to remain you. That computer is then
installed into some sort of robot (Moravec favors the "fractal bush"
model) and you can live forever.

There are a few problems, of course, beyond the engineering hurdles.
My big one is emotions. Having had my hormone levels drastically
affected by my cancer, I'm very aware of the body's influence on how
we think. How will my mind work without my adrenaline glands? Will I
still feel love? Hate? Fear? If not, am I still me?

If it does become possible in my lifetime, I know what I want.. put me
in a spaceship. A big one. Send me to another star to do some
exploring. With the ability to adjust my personal perception of time
(along with relativity) I could tour the local stars in a few thousand
years (a century or two, ship's time.)

Mekkala <joremovedathiskimtoreply@attbi.com> writes:

It would be a tricky thing to do. How do we know that the "me" in the
engineered brain is still the "me" in my biological brain?

Philosophically, this is a bit like asking 'How do I know the
"me" that woke up this morning is the "me" that I remember slipping into
bed last night? How do I know, getting into bed *now*, that tomorrow what
wakes up "here" will be "me"?'

They're suppositional questions; they don't have answers. We're
comfortable with going to sleep, but not with dying, only out of
familiarity; it's no longer frightening out of repitition-- if, in fact,
we are repeating the experience at all.

Mekkala <joremovedathiskimtoreply@attbi.com> writes:

It would be a tricky thing to do. How do we know that the "me" in the
engineered brain is still the "me" in my biological brain?

Philosophically, this is a bit like asking 'How do I know the
"me" that woke up this morning is the "me" that I remember slipping into
bed last night? How do I know, getting into bed *now*, that tomorrow
what wakes up "here" will be "me"?'

They're suppositional questions; they don't have answers. We're
comfortable with going to sleep, but not with dying, only out of
familiarity; it's no longer frightening out of repitition-- if, in fact,
we are repeating the experience at all.