Moore's Law and the Soul
Before Christmas I read the wonderful How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen (see also: Francis Wheen's top 10 modern delusions.) It's good to see irrationality attacked head on, and with such aplomb. But one must also be wary of the reductionism which author Ken Wilber has termed 'flatland'. Is it such a new age concept to maintain that the interior dimension of consiousness is real in a more than mechanical way? Take for instance the scientists whose views were canvassed for the Science section of last Thursday's guardian. Can men of such intelligence really believe that because..'The amount of computing power you can buy for £1,000 doubles every 18 months. It's hardly speculative to declare that by 2020, your desktop will have more operational horsepower than a human brain...[].. with the right arrangement of hardware and software, you really can build a thinking machine. Not just a device that beats everyone at chess: a machine that can write fiction, do physics research, or be amusing at parties'(Seth Shostak, senior astronomer, Seti Institute, California) .
Surely rather than building an amusing fiction writing physics researcher, they should concentrate on a gorgeous woman, like in Weird Science (or Rachel in Bladerunner)!
But seriously...according to Stephen Pinker:
Thinking is neural computation; wanting and trying are neural cybernetics (feedback systems, like your thermostat). All this means that humans are not special in having an essence that is separate from the material universe.
It may well be true that all consciousness is based on matter, but to reduce consciousness to matter is to reduce us to our exterior dimension. One is reminded of the argument that near-death experiences are bogus because you can see stuff happening in the brain at the same time. Following this argument the last kiss I shared was not real either. This is not to argue that there is anything 'after' death. It is simply to point out rank reductionism. To be aware of yourself is to notice how mysterious the phenomonen of consciousness is. See an old summary of Wilber's model of the universe as we know it here: http://www.imprint.co.uk/Wilber.htm
Then again, maybe we are all replicants after all:
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams ... glitter in the dark near Tannhauser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost ... in time, like tears ... in rain. Time ... to die."
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