Re: [Iraq] Is Saddam Alive?

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Mar 26 2003 - 13:04:40 MST

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    On Wed, Mar 26, 2003 at 11:31:52AM -0500, John K Clark wrote:

    > I'd like to hear the opinion of some of the very bright people
    > on this list, do you think Saddam Hussein is alive?

    It doesn't matter, because he has in some sense transcended.

    Apparently he has delegated command (this is inferred from
    strategy and al-Jazeera analysis, so it is not certain of course)
    to his generals. Normally this would be suicidal for any dictator
    to do, and Saddam previously ran the standard ultra-centralized
    approach to government. But in his current situation this would
    actually delay the inevitable, and maybe give him time to get to
    his secret moonbase or whatever. If he can just keep out of sight
    he will be as invisible and invincible as Osama. He better not
    leave any smoking shoes on the slopes of Etna, of course... [Ob
    classicist reference]
      
    To get this back into transhumanism (after all, otherwise this
    issue shouldn't even be discussed on this list): This kind of
    "immortality by delegation" is actually interesting from a
    functionalist perspective. If you are defined by your function,
    by what you do, then you could actually be replaced by another
    external system doing the same functions. This is really what
    uploading is about. But as my colleauges have pointed out, why
    not replace myself by a set of very good actors? These actors
    would learn everything relevant about the behavior and
    motivations of me, and eventually take my place. My own argument
    against this is of course that many of my internal processes
    which are only (and can only be) privately known such as my
    consciousness, would not be transferred in such a scheme. But if
    I did not regard these processes as relevant, or thought that a
    bad upload-copy was better than no upload, then it might make
    sense. Similarly with Saddam; by having enough people acting as
    if he was alive and according to his will, he is in some sense
    uploaded within the social matrix of Iraq.

    -- 
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
    asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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