On Jul 4, 2007, at 5:59 PM, Heartland wrote:
On Jul 4, 2007, at 1:14 AM, Tom McCabe wrote:
That definition isn't accurate, because it doesn't
match what we intuitively see as 'death'. 'Death' is
actually fairly easy to define, compared to "good" or
even "truth"; I would define it as the permanent
destruction of a large portion of the information that
makes up a sentient being's mind.
Randall Randall:
I would say that 'life' is a process, and that
the cessation of the process is death.
Yes.
I don't
happen to agree with Heartland that the process
is summed up by electrical activity in the brain.
So it looks like there's still some discrepancy between what we
mean by process. I
think the essence of any process is some transfer (flow) of energy.
Electrical
activity is just one example of such transfer.
I don't know enough about how the brain works to
have this conversation. :) Under anesthesia, I
wouldn't assume that all electrical and chemical
processes stop -- rather, I'd think that they're
just disrupted for a time.
--
Randall Randall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"If we have matter duplicators, will each of us be a sovereign
and possess a hydrogen bomb?" -- Jerry Pournelle
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