Forever for All: Moral Philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects for ImmortalityThis book considers the problems of death and the hereafter and how these ages-old problems ought to be addressed in light of our continuing progress. A materialistic viewpoint of reality is assumed, denying the likelihood of supernatural or other superhuman assistance. Death, however, is not seen as inevitable or even irreversible; it is maintained that the problem can and should be addressed scientifically in all of its aspects. The book thus follows recent, immortalist thinking that places hopes in future advances in our understanding and technology. A functionalist, reductionist argument is developed for the possibility of resurrecting the dead through the eventual creation of replicas and related constructs. Meanwhile, it is urged, medical advances leading to the conquest of biological death should be pursued, along with cryonics: freezing the newly deceased for possible, eventual reanimation. A common ground thus is sought between two hitherto largely independent strands of scientific immortalism, the one based on hopes in a remote but hyperadvanced future, the other on the nearer-term prospects of presently advancing technology. The resulting philosophy, encompassing both past and future, is directed toward the long-term interests of each sentient being, and it thereby acquires a moral dimension. The immortalization of humans and other life-forms is seen as a great moral project and labor of love that will unite us in a common cause and provide a meaningful destiny. A rational and thorough exploration of human potential. Few have considered, much less visualized, the profound changes set to occur over the next few decades through exponential advances in science and philosophy. Mike Perry has, and he shares his vision with eloquence. --Jim Halperin, author of The Truth Machine and The First Immortal. |
Contents
10 The Theological Issue | 272 |
Atheism with a Concept of Divinity | 279 |
Cosmological and Ontological Arguments | 283 |
World and Eternal Happiness without a God | 287 |
Our Immense Responsibilities | 295 |
Yuai and Religion | 298 |
11 Will the Good Prevail? | 305 |
An Investigation of Awakening | 309 |
44 | |
48 | |
51 | |
53 | |
59 | |
Toward a Change in Attitudes | 61 |
Cryonics Acceptance a Hypothetical Case | 65 |
A Future of Wonder | 69 |
4 A Philosophical System | 74 |
The Three Principal Working Hypotheses | 75 |
Reductionism Materialism and the Problem of Survival | 78 |
Physical versus Psychological Reductionism | 81 |
Psychological Connectedness versus Continuity | 85 |
The Functionalist Viewpoint | 87 |
Personal Identity and Destiny | 89 |
Yuai Resurrection and the Multiverse | 91 |
ShorterTerm Also Important | 97 |
5 Some Scientific Perspectives | 101 |
Reproducibility versus Unpredictability | 102 |
Photon Detection Apparatus | 105 |
The TwoSlit Experiment | 108 |
Detection Patterns in TwoSlit Experiments | 111 |
Relativity and the Problem of Locality | 113 |
Distant Events Refute Simultaneity | 116 |
Quantum Interpretations and Locality | 118 |
The Aspect Experiment and ManyWorlds | 122 |
The Aspect Experiment | 127 |
How ManyWorlds Preserves Locality | 129 |
More on Alternatives to ManyWorlds | 132 |
A Telling Experiment? | 134 |
6 Unboundedness | 138 |
History Process versus Description | 139 |
What Are the Possible Histories? | 142 |
The Plausibility of Unboundedness | 147 |
Our Existence As Extraordinary Evidence | 153 |
7 Interchangeability | 158 |
A Difficult Problem Life after Death | 159 |
Interchangeability in Physics | 167 |
Interchangeability As Applied to Persons | 170 |
Opposition Rebuttal and Illustrations | 174 |
Interchangeability Did You Have a Dog? | 177 |
Underlying and Observer Reality | 178 |
The UI Assumptions | 181 |
The Problem of Actualization | 184 |
Person Brain and Mind | 188 |
8 The Digital Substrate | 190 |
The Principle of Large Quantity | 191 |
Strong AI and Materialism | 194 |
Mind As a Digital Phenomenon | 197 |
Information and Personal Survival | 201 |
Information Understanding and Reality As a Whole | 203 |
Symbols Not Simply Arbitrary | 205 |
The Material World As Information | 207 |
Digital Systems and Their Powers | 210 |
A Turing Machine | 213 |
The Game of Life | 216 |
Physical Systems As Digital Mechanisms | 219 |
Quantum Devices and Digital Consciousness | 221 |
Answering Objections the Chinese Room Experiment | 226 |
The Gödel Incompleteness Theorem | 229 |
The Gödel Sentence | 232 |
A Simple Rebuttal | 234 |
Language Inconsistency and Auto Sales | 236 |
Consequences of the Digital Model | 238 |
The Chinese Room Revisited | 239 |
Modeling Time | 242 |
Further Thoughts on Consciousness and Strong AI | 243 |
9 Nanotechnology Gateway to the Future | 247 |
Progress in Nanotechnology | 249 |
Difficulties and Objections | 257 |
Expectations Evidence and Projections | 262 |
Benefits from Nanotechnology | 266 |
A World Not Perfect but Perfecting | 315 |
Free Will Determinism and Progress | 317 |
The Doomsday Argument and the Fermi Paradox | 321 |
Meeting Other Challenges | 328 |
12 Resurrection | 331 |
The Afterlife Doubt and Rational Hope | 333 |
Requirements for a Resurrection | 338 |
PersonSegments and PersonStages | 340 |
The Problem of Identity | 342 |
Lucretius Demonstrates Onticity | 345 |
Ontic Robustness Dreaming and Past Lives | 348 |
Heaven Despite Hardships | 352 |
13 Biostasis As the Better Way | 355 |
A Problem of Anticipation | 357 |
Advantages of Historical Ties | 360 |
The Conservatist Argument | 364 |
Addressing Some Objections | 365 |
Attributes to Aim For | 371 |
A Moral Argument | 374 |
14 Immortality | 380 |
Personhood | 382 |
Requirements for Immortality | 385 |
Why Immortality Is Important | 391 |
Achieving Enontic Immortality | 394 |
Cosmological Perspectives | 399 |
Coping with the Mysterious Universe | 403 |
15 The Philosophy of Assurance | 412 |
The Problem of Forgetting and the Ideal Self | 414 |
Continuity and Causality Issues | 422 |
More on Memory Problems | 428 |
Avenues for Advancement | 433 |
Free Will the Multiverse and the Brain | 437 |
Aging to Be Cured | 443 |
Assurance in the Face of Uncertainty | 445 |
16 The Philosophy of Aspiration | 448 |
Wants Survival and Healing | 451 |
The Search for Meaning | 456 |
Shaping Our Own Future | 459 |
Joy and Benevolent SelfPerpetuation | 464 |
An Illustration | 467 |
Living Loving and Developing As Immortal Egos | 469 |
Resurrection As a Community Endeavor | 473 |
Fusion and Fissioning of Individuals | 484 |
Extending the Resurrection | 489 |
Cautions and Restrictions | 492 |
Summary | 498 |
17 The Philosophy of Action | 500 |
Progress against Aging | 502 |
Cryonics and Other Biostasis Procedures | 507 |
Genomic Preservation | 510 |
Cryonics and Brain Preservation | 516 |
How Good Is Cryopreservation? | 520 |
The Chemical Alternative | 526 |
Coming Back a Possible Repair Scenario | 527 |
Choosing Physical Preservation | 532 |
Summary and Conclusions | 535 |
18 The World at Large and the Future | 538 |
Coping with Resistance | 540 |
Immortalism and Human Problems | 543 |
Some Controversial Issues | 549 |
Immortalism and the Outside World | 555 |
Our Coming Transhumanity | 559 |
The Singularity and Beyond | 563 |
Cover Emblem | 570 |
Illustration Credits | 571 |
Glossary | 572 |
579 | |
References and Notes | 585 |
Organizations | 609 |
Acknowledegments | 617 |
618 | |
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Forever for All: Moral Philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects ... R. Michael Perry No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
able argue argument atoms basic become behavior better biostasis brain cells Chapter consciousness consider continuer course cryonicists cryonics death Derek Parfit detector developed devices effect enontic eternal Eternal Return example existence expect experience fact favor finite finite state machine Frank Tipler frozen functioning future happen hope human hyperontic idea identity imagine immortalist immortality individual infinite instantiations intelligent interactions Interchangeability interesting involved issue later limited living many-worlds means memories ment moral more-than-human multiverse nanotechnology noted notion observer occur Omega Point ontic ourselves overall particles particular past person person-stage philosophical photon Physics of Immortality possible preservation principle problem progress quantum computer quantum mechanics Ralph Merkle reality reason resurrection Robert Ettinger scientific seems sentient simply sort strong AI survival theory things tion Tipler transhuman Turing machine UI assumptions Unboundedness universe Yuai