Use your own words respond to these to post you don't have to reference anything I just need at least 5 to 7 on each of these posts. It is for some discussion board responses.
Here is the question? Do you want to download your consciousness into a computer for eternity? SHOULD you want to?
1.I do not want to download my consciousness into a computer. My initial reason for this is because our brains, minds, and bodies are all cohesive. Your brain is like the control center, all the information from the mind passes through our brains and is relayed to our bodies. When one part is missing, something is likely to misfire.
Nature provided us with this package, the self, that is is perfect by design on it's own. Descartes said "I believed this body belonged to me more properly and more strictly than any other; for in fact I could never be separated from it as from other bodies.
I experienced in it an account of it all my appetites and affections, and finally I was touched by the feeling of pain and the tittilation of pleasure in its parts, and not in the parts of other bodies which were separated from it. But when I inquired, why, from some, i know not what, painful sensation, there follows sadness of mind, and from pleasurable sensations there arises joy, or why this mysterious pinching in the stomach which I call hunger causes me to desire to eat, and dryness of the throat causes a desire to drink, and so on, I could give no reason excepting that nature taught me so" (Kessler, 513).
The brain causes your body to feel what the mind tells it to. If your consciousness were to uploaded into a database, it wouldn't be able to sense anything because it is lacking the physical body, therefore it would not feel anything either. I don't see the benefits of having consciousness if you can't sense the world around you.
In the case of Alzheimers, I see this as potentially useful medicine. Our human minds seemingly have no bounds. Anything we can envision, we can most likely find a way to create it. But I feel like the Alzheimers Pacemaker is a band-aid solution to a much larger problem. The
Earth is cyclical, and maybe that goes for progress as well. Maybe regressing is the key to progressing, either as a society or individually. We are always trying to solve problems, but what if we just eliminated the problems? Maybe try to find out what caused the problem in the first place?
Sounds simpler than putting chemicals together and taking apart molecules. Dr. Kaku said in his interview the he "believes in the god of Spinoza, the god harmony, beauty, simplicity...The Universe could have been ugly. It could have been random. It could have been chaotic. And yet here we are in an orderly Universe that obeys very simple laws. You can put all the laws of physics on single sheet of paper".
The Universe is simple by nature, and our lives have become too chaotic. As is the natural cycle of the earth and humanity, it is time to simplify our lives. This definitely pushes the boundaries of human understanding, since the idea that progress must always move forward has been instilled in us since day one.
2. I am struggling with deciding whether uploading your consciousness in to a computer would be beneficial or not. Dr. Kaku makes several arguments in the interview that make the thought of downloading a person's consciousness very attractive, but he also makes statements that are concerning.
I like when Dr. Kaku makes reference to a button that could potentially allow Alzheimer patients to remember things such as where they live. Some other potential good that could come of this downloading of consciousness could be paralyzed people remembering how to walk, or people that have lost their sight or hearing, remember how to see or hear.
These aspects of downloading consciousness that I think that would be beneficial. Some of the potentially scary aspects of downloading consciousness is that it appears that a person could be manipulated to do anything if that thought or feeling could be implanted into them. One question that I do have about this technology is when does a person start the downloading process? Does it begin from birth or does it start at a later age? All things being considered, I think that pros of downloading consciousness outweigh the cons, therefore this advancement would be a good thing if used properly.