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Brain2000 · 06-20-2005, 06:54 PM

I think about this topic quite often. I think that we are probably real, and what our senses pick up are probably, to some degree, what is really happening, (as much as our 3rd dimentional recepticals can discern). I think our brains are a complex processor that react based upon the 5 senses. Perhaps being alive is completely relative to oneself. Perhaps the idea that things "are as alive as they can be" could be thought of here? A tree certainly is as alive as it can be. So is an ant. So we probably are too. Take it to a seemingly non-sensical level, how alive is an inanimate object? Is my computer as alive as it can be? If so, how much is that, or can that even be measured at all? Scale that up to the universe as a whole. Is it alive in any way?

If you think that's so ridiculous, then consider this. We are created from a strand of DNA. Its job is to "make" one of us. It's not much more than a very complex computer program. It takes a bunch of dirt, and rearranges the molecules to form us. So are we really alive? Or is it just a byproduct of the electrical impulses in our brain? Which means it's not really real. An illusion. That we are just a pile of thinking dirt.

Last January, a friend of mine had a bad misfortune, and through a set of physical problems, ended up with hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain for a period of time). He was lucky to make a physical recovery, but mentally, has had to relearn all kinds of things that he used to take for granted. For example, at first he could not discern red from blue. And numbers, he knew what the number 1 meant, and the number 10, but if you asked him what was between 1 and 10, he couldn't grasp it. He's come a long way since then, but in a way, it was fascinating to watch someone's knowledge disconnected, and watch them reconnect to it. You could almost see the brain remake certain connections as he progressed.

So maybe the question becomes, how does the collection of electrical impulses in one's head make one self aware?

What would happen if you teleported someone from point A to point B by scanning them at point A and destroying the original, and then recreating an exact replica at point B using raw materials. Obviously, they can't be the same person, because the original was destroyed. But then again, maybe they are the same person, because the new copy will have the exact pattern of particles. The new person would most likely act, talk, and be exactly like the old person. So if they ever made a teleporter like this, and you could travel the world (or to other worlds) instantly, would you do it?

(sorry for all the rambling)

06-20-2005, 06:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
Brain2000 Upright	I think about this topic quite often. I think that we are probably real, and what our senses pick up are probably, to some degree, what is really happening, (as much as our 3rd dimentional recepticals can discern). I think our brains are a complex processor that react based upon the 5 senses. Perhaps being alive is completely relative to oneself. Perhaps the idea that things "are as alive as they can be" could be thought of here? A tree certainly is as alive as it can be. So is an ant. So we probably are too. Take it to a seemingly non-sensical level, how alive is an inanimate object? Is my computer as alive as it can be? If so, how much is that, or can that even be measured at all? Scale that up to the universe as a whole. Is it alive in any way? If you think that's so ridiculous, then consider this. We are created from a strand of DNA. Its job is to "make" one of us. It's not much more than a very complex computer program. It takes a bunch of dirt, and rearranges the molecules to form us. So are we really alive? Or is it just a byproduct of the electrical impulses in our brain? Which means it's not really real. An illusion. That we are just a pile of thinking dirt. Last January, a friend of mine had a bad misfortune, and through a set of physical problems, ended up with hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain for a period of time). He was lucky to make a physical recovery, but mentally, has had to relearn all kinds of things that he used to take for granted. For example, at first he could not discern red from blue. And numbers, he knew what the number 1 meant, and the number 10, but if you asked him what was between 1 and 10, he couldn't grasp it. He's come a long way since then, but in a way, it was fascinating to watch someone's knowledge disconnected, and watch them reconnect to it. You could almost see the brain remake certain connections as he progressed. So maybe the question becomes, how does the collection of electrical impulses in one's head make one self aware? What would happen if you teleported someone from point A to point B by scanning them at point A and destroying the original, and then recreating an exact replica at point B using raw materials. Obviously, they can't be the same person, because the original was destroyed. But then again, maybe they are the same person, because the new copy will have the exact pattern of particles. The new person would most likely act, talk, and be exactly like the old person. So if they ever made a teleporter like this, and you could travel the world (or to other worlds) instantly, would you do it? (sorry for all the rambling)