Frank Hirsch: Riding a light beam is well specified. Silicon neurons having the same behaviour as protein ones is not well specified and not likely to be fruitful until it is so.
michael vassar : My statement was not about eliminating phenomenal conciousness, it was changing personal identity. I don’t personally but other people strongly associate with altering their conciousness through drugs. Someone who couldn’t get stoned with their mates or have a night out on the town drinking while enjoying the altered mind state might think that something was wrong with them, and that they weren’t the same person as they were before.
And even if personal identity is not affected, social identity might be. That is other people would see you as a different person even if you didn’t. If your personal identity is founded upon your relationships with others, this may be a problem.
Frank Hirsch: Riding a light beam is well specified. Silicon neurons having the same behaviour as protein ones is not well specified and not likely to be fruitful until it is so.
michael vassar : My statement was not about eliminating phenomenal conciousness, it was changing personal identity. I don’t personally but other people strongly associate with altering their conciousness through drugs. Someone who couldn’t get stoned with their mates or have a night out on the town drinking while enjoying the altered mind state might think that something was wrong with them, and that they weren’t the same person as they were before.
And even if personal identity is not affected, social identity might be. That is other people would see you as a different person even if you didn’t. If your personal identity is founded upon your relationships with others, this may be a problem.