Stephen Mann wrote:
>> Ray Scanlon (rscanlon at wsg.net) wrote:
>> : We should leave soul (mind, self, intelligence, whatever) to the theologians
> : and proceed with the design of a machine that can think and decide using
> : only neuromimes. As a first step we examine the brain to see how the neurons
> : do these things. If we can explain the how the brain thinks, how it decides,
> : we shall know how to design the machine.
>> : Ray
>> Ray,
>> This is about where you should have started your post. I don't know which
> philosophers you mean, but I don't think of my soul as a ghost but rather
> as a psychic faculty, like my mind and other faculties. Soul is about
> your quality rather. Would you prefer to have a girlfriend with no
> emotions and whom was as cold as ice? Well, guess what? That's how she
> doesn't want you either! A person without a soul is like a prism
> through which light passes without breaking into its inherent colors. A
> winter's day is souless compared to vibrant spring's. if you were a
> machine, you wouldn't notice the difference. Do you like souless music?
> Maybe you would prefer to snap your fingers to some elevator musak. How
> about some souless food? Just slop something tasteless on a bread slice
> and ram it into your mouth. Bottoms up!
That is run-of-the-mill soul. There is nothing like the soul of a
dark, cold, and lonely winter's day. Vibrant spring days bring
out the ants, so they have fleeting soul. Elevator musak has
codes in it. If you listen to the musak you can decode what the
store is trying to make you buy after they've jacked up the price.
A primary soul food:
Peanut and bacon sandwichs. Invented and patented by Elvis Presley.
The King lives and his soul is everywhere.
---
Jim
>> Even if you did build yourself a brain, what would you do with it? Put it
> in a robot and teach it to be like you? If this brain was any good, it
> would look at us and jump into the nearest junk yard.
>> Steve
