On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:06:26 -0400, "tooly" <rdh11@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>"Sir Frederick" <mmcneill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>news:hahif15f31t77k3mbotsj1plcdoej9cq11@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On 9 Aug 2005 14:02:59 -0700, "The Daily Excerpt" <bzbz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>>N. K. Brendleton: "According to reductive materialism, a particular
>>>mental state will correspond to a specific physical state in brains. It
>>>therefore allows the future possibility of cyborgs -- people with
>>>extensive electronic replacement parts -- becoming zombies: beings who
>>>may act as if they are conscious, but are really not. Functionalism, or
>>>non-reductive materialism, rejects this possiblity because the
>>>replacement parts will perform the same purpose as the original neural
>>>****tions of the brain. Functionalism recogizes Multiple Realizability,
>>>that the mechanistic material being utilized is irrelevent and any
>>>physical system (like a computer) that runs the same program as the
>>>brain will produce its various characteristics, including the notorious
>>>qualia."
>>>
>>>- - - - - - - - - - - - -
>> What do you mean 'future'?
>> We are all automatons with
>> self(personification and 'mind')
>> and qualia(sensor mapping)
>> stories dancing in our brains.
>> As I have said many times :
>> "We need our stories."
>> --
>
>Yea, but then there's that pesky 'fear and pain'. If only our technology
>could rid us of that, I'd be the first to get in line for a brain staple
of
>some sort. Zombie-ism seems like a good alternative compared to having
to
>deal with all the nuts running around in today's world. But...alas...pain
>and fear still exist...and thusly, I would resist, fearing the demise of
>myself. The present world, based in traditions [story's or whatever term
>you want to put on it], allow for a protective overcoat of socialability
>that is like a rock to hide under. It works allowing me a niche is all.
>The new "brain theologians" are just a bigger fish wanting to crowd me
out
>of that niche in the ocean.
>
>
>
That's your story. A story such as pain or fear is as functional as
the voltage off of a thermocouple. Why do you argue? It works.
Would you rid that thermocouple of its voltage? No.
You may stay in your niche, in the ocean or anywhere. I ask for
honesty, not dishonest folk tales. You may even continue
practicing those folk tales, just not naively. We need to deal with the
nuts. The rock has turned into a glass and a weapon.
We must learn to be sociable story zombies. Hubris and breeding
no longer work.
|
