Aware: Upload 9 Nov 202330 May 2024 But, not bit… Why we will never be saved in computers One of the more common posthumanist themes is that we can download ourselves into a computer matrix of some kind (and indeed that we may even be in a matrix) and live forever (or until the matrix dies). As a thought experiment, this serves to challenge our intuitions and raise interesting questions, which is what thought experiments are supposed to do. The trouble begins when we take it seriously as a real option. Substack Cognition Epistemology Metaphysics Philosophy Technology
History Hume’s Dialogues: A coloured edition 18 Mar 201212 Feb 2019 Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is one of the very best philosophical works ever written, as I was reminded this morning while seeking a passage. But it is not easily available in a decent format online. Sure, you can download a facsimile of the second edition (1779) from Archive.Org, and I… Read More
Technology Why we’ll never be downloaded 4 Mar 2009 An interesting article is up at the New Atlantis by Ari Schulman, arguing that we will never be able to replicate the mind on a digital computer. Here I want briefly to argue there are other reasons for this. Read More
Philosophy On the moral purity of skeptics and fallacies 8 Jul 201122 Jun 2018 The recent furore, called #elevatorgate on Twitter, about what Richard Dawkins said in response to complaints of sexism amongst atheists, has hit Gawker, who finish with the line: “That’s skeptics. Rational about everything except themselves, self-preservation, and manners.” Now without discussing personalities (for as a Tone Moderator I eschew mere… Read More