(February 13, 2015 at 12:52 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: The problem occurs when people's hope for something clouds their judgement and gets them to believe what they want to believe, rather than believe what the evidence suggests. This is called "wishful thinking," and is exactly the same "reasoning" that many Christians engage in when they believe in god and heaven because the idea appeals to them.
Immortality through copying one's consciousness to a computer is an idea some of us explore. Exploring it does not mean we believe it.
(February 13, 2015 at 12:52 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: In the case of copying one's brain and sticking it in a computer, it should be perfectly obvious that a copy of a thing is not the original thing.
I agree. But if my brain is scanned and mapped when I am unconscious for the last time and the patterns are replicated in a computer of some type, what is the difference? From the perception and memory of the new life form, it IS me.
(February 13, 2015 at 12:52 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Being an atheist means one has avoided one silly superstitious belief. It does not mean that one has not fallen into countless other superstitions, nor does it mean that one does not have severely faulty thinking.
Indeed not. But the idea of uploading one's mind is not a superstition and you have a long way to go to demonstrate that it is faulty thinking. Simply saying that it is so doesn't cut it.
(February 13, 2015 at 12:52 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: And it obviously does not prevent one from having a vain hope of immortality.
It's vain to want to live as long as one wants? I draw a blank on that one. Is it vain to go to a physician when one is sick so that he/she may give us more years?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
