Do you think you'd be less human with a silicon knee? Or "fake boobs"? What defines a human to you? Does a soul reside in the physical substrate that makes up life or is it in the organization of information regardless of substrate? What does it mean to stop hosting a soul?
These are parallels that my BF brought up to me. If you get a fake hip, are you an less human than before. And while I can agree that is a bit ridiculous, I guess it is the LEAP made there at the end. At what point do you stop hosting your soul? What is the connection with you physical to your higher self.
But to me, to stop hosting my soul would mean a disconnect with my little piece of divinity. It is a disconnect to the basic energies of Earth. That is what concerns me.
Tapping into that base energy is a big part of my Spirituality. So my question is, does this idea of "upgrading" humans to machines disconnect us from the base energy of life? Or spirit or soul or whatever you want to call it.
imho, yes, it would. Where the fine line is between knee replacements and soul eviction... I do not know.
In order for this question to be meaningful, some unspoken assumption underlying have to be present:
1) That a person can be alienated from their soul. 2) That meat is capable of hosting a soul that silicon -- or any other substance -- cannot.
I think both are dubious propositions at best, particularly if one subscribes to an imminent theaology and maintains that the Divine is present in all things. If flame hosts spirits like Salamanders and rocks hosts spirits like Gnomes, what possible reason can there be that they couldn't host spirits like human souls? Indeed, if meat is necessary to have a soul, how can the soul continue after physical death?
Re: Hey good luck with thinking about thingsandaisnicessusJanuary 17 2009, 15:03:08 UTC
we my friend, i guess on a basic level, you and I will have to agree to disagree. I do believe, as you put it that my "persona is basically your soul
( ... )
I do not think of the soul as something distinct from the body, something that makes us "more than meat." For that matter, I don't have a particular definition of "soul" that is the One True Definition. But looking at the various definitions, one thing is clear: the totality of what we are emerges from our meat and our spirit working together.
Implanting chips would not weaken the soul. It would change the character of the soul, but no more than any other life-changing experience, yeah?
yes... I agree. But how much "alteration" would it be? Would it be enough to disconnect up from the base energy of life?
No one knows the "One True Definition". It was cause great chaos for humans to all of a sudden have this knowledge. So we don't. It is was we as individuals "do" with our spirit/soul/energy that matters.
I wonder if a "life changing experience" of this magnitude would completely disconnect us from out capability to commune with the divine.
I don't think humans generally understand the implications of their actions-- and so we won't fully understand the implication of AI and nanotechnology even after we've incorporated it into our culture. Maybe our "soul" (I don't believe in a spirit entity-- in the shape of ghosts or angels as we commonly understand them-- but do grant that there are unknowable forces that make up who I am beyond just the visible mass of my body. Not sure there's a word in the English language to describe this-- "mystery"?) will evolve and change with the changing body. Like when you give a man steroids, he's still a man, but his personality and behavior change along with his mass.
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But to me, to stop hosting my soul would mean a disconnect with my little piece of divinity. It is a disconnect to the basic energies of Earth. That is what concerns me.
Tapping into that base energy is a big part of my Spirituality. So my question is, does this idea of "upgrading" humans to machines disconnect us from the base energy of life? Or spirit or soul or whatever you want to call it.
imho, yes, it would. Where the fine line is between knee replacements and soul eviction... I do not know.
Thank you for replying.
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In order for this question to be meaningful, some unspoken assumption underlying have to be present:
1) That a person can be alienated from their soul.
2) That meat is capable of hosting a soul that silicon -- or any other substance -- cannot.
I think both are dubious propositions at best, particularly if one subscribes to an imminent theaology and maintains that the Divine is present in all things. If flame hosts spirits like Salamanders and rocks hosts spirits like Gnomes, what possible reason can there be that they couldn't host spirits like human souls? Indeed, if meat is necessary to have a soul, how can the soul continue after physical death?
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Implanting chips would not weaken the soul. It would change the character of the soul, but no more than any other life-changing experience, yeah?
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No one knows the "One True Definition". It was cause great chaos for humans to all of a sudden have this knowledge. So we don't. It is was we as individuals "do" with our spirit/soul/energy that matters.
I wonder if a "life changing experience" of this magnitude would completely disconnect us from out capability to commune with the divine.
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"There is no part of us that is not of the gods," or so I'm told.
None of our other tools have cut us off from the divine. Why should these?
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What do you think about that?
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