Immortality

[Ebola]

What if we're already in a machine and the world is just a virtual simulation experiment?

We are, but the stimulation is created by us, and there's no way out.

In [re]discovering and spreading the concept of the meme, Richard Dawkins unleashed a virus – both literally and figuratively.

I find it somewhat ironic that Dawkins, de facto leader of most atheists, of all people, will be ultimately responsible for leading people back to their divine roots. However, this doesn’t come as a complete surprise to me. It’s just more proof of the counterintuitive and paradoxical nature of nature.

 

[Oh Long Johnson]

The process of moving your mind into a machine would in fact kill you (at least your body). This is because it would require every subatomic particle in your body to be scanned, which makes your atoms scrambled due to quantum decoherence.

Aside from you sounding like L. Ron Hubbard all of a sudden, I have to take issue with the quote above. Why, exactly, would it require scanning all subatomic particles in the body, exactly? Cells aren't subatomic. Neurons aren't subatomic. You don't need to know the spins of the quarks inside those structures in order to map and copy their states, the same way you don't need to take antiparticles into account when you want to make another brick. Where's this quantum death coming from?

 

[Ebola]

Aside from you sounding like L. Ron Hubbard all of a sudden, I have to take issue with the quote above. Why, exactly, would it require scanning all subatomic particles in the body, exactly? Cells aren't subatomic. Neurons aren't subatomic. You don't need to know the spins of the quarks inside those structures in order to map and copy their states, the same way you don't need to take antiparticles into account when you want to make another brick. Where's this quantum death coming from?

Good question. Your brain cells (and their combined mega-structure) are not 100% you. If you want to transfer yourself into a machine, then scanning the entire body, at a subatomic state, is required - not just the brain. Human cells only compose a small minority of the total cells which make you who you are, and control your thoughts and actions. Your body is packed with countless various non-human microorganisms that regulate your feelings, desires and actions. If all you did was upload your brain structure into a machine, you'd just be a shell of your former self. The memes (ideas and beliefs) in your mind do manifest physically due to brain plasticity, but a brain in the vat will not work well because it's more than just your brain that does thinking; the entire body is part of the computational process which makes you who you are. You can cut off limbs, but beyond that, it is hard not to impact brain function. As for why the measurements need to be so accurate, this is due to chaos. Just a few small mistakes could lead to a vastly different person in a small span of time. The human brain/body is not a computer; it's a quantum computer, as is every element of reality on all scales.

 

[Oh Long Johnson]

Good question. Your brain cells and their combined mega-structure are not 100% you. If you want to transfer yourself into a machine, then scanning the entire body, at a subatomic state, is required - not just the brain. Human cells only compose a small minority of the total cells which make you who you are, and control your thoughts and actions. Your body is packed with countless microorganisms that regulate your feelings, desires and actions. If all you did was upload your brain structure into a machine, you'd just be a shell of your former self. The memes (ideas and beliefs) in your mind do manifest physically due to brain plasticity, but a brain in the vat will not work well because it's more than just your brain that does thinking; the entire body is part of the computational process which makes you who you are. You can cut off limbs, but beyond that, it is hard not to impact brain function.

I thought you were going to say "thetans" for a second there.

Okay, let's say the definition of a fully conscious human must be viewed holistically, as you are saying. In that case, yes, the entire body would need scanning, though I'm unconvinced my toenails have much of an impact on my sense of self or my memories. So you scan the body - maybe to the molecular level, roping in all the DNA and RNA and microbes, as well as mapping the electric/chemical pathways from those parts of the body to the brain. Again, you aren't measuring subatomic, so no theoretical Schrodinger's corpse.

The only reason I can see your body dying is because you would have to kill it before it fucks your wife or goes back in time to become MegaHitler and fucks up the timeline.

 

[SP 199]

Well this took a much more serious tone than I intended

 

[Ebola]

As for why the measurements need to be so accurate, this is due to chaos. Just a few small mistakes could lead to a vastly different person in a small span of time. The human brain/body is not a computer; it's a quantum computer,just like every element of reality on all scales.

You can reproduce the same model Intel CPU and they think the same as each other, processing information exactly the same. They rely on classical mechanics to process information. The human brain/body does not; it's a quantum computational system, and the cosmos is its [waste] product.