Sunday, January 21, 2007

Robot Stories objections

As an Aristotelian and a computer science major, I have problems with the clip from Robot Stories.


My first objection deals with how would it be possible to copy a mind. Some would say the mind is immaterial, so how could you make a physical or virtual copy of it. Others might say the mind is the interconnections between neurons. If this is the case, to copy the mind would be to map all of the interconnections, which would be a formidable feat, since there 100 billion neurons in the adult human brain.


My second objection is what happens when the copy is made. Are there now two copies of the person's mind. If so, do both continue existing? Could some event change the outcome of the two minds? Or, does the person cease to exist once the mind has been copied?


My third objection is what type of hardware could support the procedure? If there was a way to copy a mind, it would seem like it would take a large amount of resources. Multiply this by a very large number of people who have been copied, and suddenly the requirements seem unattainable.

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