From: Heartland (mindinstance@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Mar 14 2008 - 06:58:40 MDT
>> Sorry Lee, but this is not the *kind* of answer I'm looking for. All the answers
>> I've received so far from you and other people already assume that memories are
>> important whereas the original question is still why are memories important in
>> the first place, and not just to survival, but why are they so important,
>> period.
Lee:
> What in the world does that mean? How can something be important
> in the abstract without being important to someone, or for something?
Ok, then why are memories important [to people] in the first place? The explanation
I'm looking for cannot:
1) assume memories are important [to people]
2) mention concept of "survival"
Can you do that?
Lee:
> And *survival* is what is important in these arguments. You do wish
> to survive, I take it, and you can readily understand why survival is
> so important for people. But maybe survival isn't important to you,
It is, but my point is that I don't agree with your definition of survival. To me
and others like me, what you refer to as "survival" isn't survival.
>> You see, my "I" is not attached to any type of personal memories.
Lee:
> Er, sorry, can't resist. So you *are* attached to your atoms! Was JC right?
And there was a reason why I told you to leave it alone. :-) It's precisely the
above. No, I'm equally unattached to "my atoms" (whatever that means) as I am
unattached to my personal memories (hopefully, you'll see this). There *are* other
things I can be attached to, you know. I'm only in the process of trying to make
you see what it is. You might still disagree if it's the correct thing to be
attached to, but at least you'll know what it is. Don't try to guess what it is
just yet. :-) And if you start quoting JKC, we might as well go home now. :-) As
usual, he was just guessing. Please don't guess.
Back to the main question about importance of memories [to people]. See if this
dilemma clarifies anything. If you had to choose between 2 options, which one would
you prefer?
Option 1) In 1 minute you will go into an eternal coma. On the bright side, you are
guaranteed that your brain, and thus your memories, will remain exactly the way
they are now until the end of Universe.
Option 2) In 1 minute all your personal memories will be completely erased from
your brain, but, other than that, this brain will function just like any other
healthy brain that's able to form and retain new personal memories and remember all
the general knowledge acquired throughout the brain's life, like being able to
speak, read and write English, do math, etc. However, this brain will not remember
its name, its opinions, its family and friends, its tastes, where it's located,
none of that personal stuff.
Slawek
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:01:02 MDT