2008/11/15 Kory Heath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Actually, I think my formulation already goes further than the theory > outlined in PC. Although it's a subtle point, I get the feeling that > reality in PC is still "materialist", in the sense that at the root > there still is material stuff which is different than bare > mathematical fact. I think the idea is more like the idea that a > physical stone implements all possible computations. As long as > there's some physical stuff to work with (implies the novel), that > stuff is enough to represent all possible computations. And the > computations representing conscious beings are scattered like dust > throughout those computations. Another way to look at it would be to > say that, if the physical universe is infinite, then at the moment of > my death, there is some pattern of molecules somewhere which is enough > like me to count as a continuer. It doesn't matter that it's causally > disconnected from me. Those states may be scattered like dust through > space and time, but as long as they're there, I'll continue to exist. > > One can believe all of this, yet still retain the standard (in my > opinion ill-formed) materialist conception of physical existence. One > can still believe that some kind of physical universe has to exist in > order for the "dust" to exist. It's different (and more extreme) to > suggest that mathematical facts-of-the-matter by themselves play the > role that "physical existence" is supposed to play.
But if any computation can be mapped onto any physical state, then every computation can be mapped onto one physical state; and why not the null state? The computation is "realised" in the mapping, a Platonic object, with the nature or even existence of the physical state being irrelevant. > Maybe Egan did mean to imply that more extreme version, but it's hard > to know, because he wrote a novel rather than a concise essay. For > instance, I don't understand why the main character of the novel felt > the need to "jump start" the universe he wanted by performing the > initial computations. If the dust theory is true, nothing needs to be > jump-started. Yes, I guess he just added that part because it fit better with the story. -- Stathis Papaioannou --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
