I was thinking more along the lines of what has classically been referred to as the "soul" as being quantifiable. There hasn't been an attempt to actually measure one, using sensitive emf field detectors, ultra low or high frequency sound, light in the non-visible spectrum. I propose that however it's quantified, it may prove to be a resource in terms of conciousness transference, and reanimation. There may be an associated field of mass and energy that binds our life to our bodies.
If that wasn't likely, electrical defibrillators would not resuscitate people. How many people wonder how that really works? We see the mechanical procedure, and don't question the results. Electrical pulses contract muscles, they operate implanted computer chips in the brains of paraplegics so they can use their mental focus as a mouse (one of the first publicized human-computer interfaces). There are a lot of applications for these areas of study. Someone studying human/computer interfaces 10 years ago probably heard the ol' standby you can't disprove a negative- because no such thing had ever been done, and the majority of people out there would have told him his theory was bunk, or would take two hundred years to develop- so why bother?
I don't want to drag up the deity arguments (or lack). I'm merely saying that just because people have attached theological significance to a concept, dosesn't mean there isn't a grain of truth under all the ritual hoopla. It may be as mundane a few years from now that people have a soul of sorts (for lack of a better word) as it is to accept now, that we generate a weak and somewhat erratic electro-magnetic field. At least exploring the option would leave memes better equipped for quality of life if it was tagged for transfer as well.
Sometimes I'm given to thinking out loud, and voice something I feel will invite lots of criticism, because I want to hear the why-nots, so I can check my thoughts against them. I don't mind the feedback, just please don't flame me for being a fringe-dwelling TH (if the fringe of the fringe will still patiently reject/accept my wierd ideas, the good and the odd).
mark@unicorn.com on 04/19/99 01:37:12 PM
Please respond to extropians@extropy.com
To: extropians@extropy.com
cc: (bcc: Tamara Zyganiuk/CIBG/TDBANK)
Subject: Re: Yes we have souls...
zygant@tdsecurities.com wrote:
>Until someone finds a way to have the soul disproven by all the
>technological verve we can toss at it, or until they prove that rats
brains
>contain memory and self-awareness when transferred,
Of course before you could prove that an uploaded human has no
self-awareness
and therefore their 'soul' was lost in the transfer, you'd have to prove
that
a meat human has self-awareness.
Mark