eternal life?

http://www.geekinformed.com/content/view/229/2/

I don't get why it's so hard for people to understand this very simple concept:

IT'S A COPY. IT'S NOT YOU. YOU DIE AND THEN A COPY OF YOU THINKS IT'S YOU.

continuity. oddly enough, if you could split yourself in half, while simultaneously copying the other half of your self, all without losing consciousness... that is the only way I can actually having 2 of YOU... as this follows with the body's natural process of shedding and replacing cells in the body. however, the YOU that is the one perceiving the "copy", is still going to die. a part of the actual "you", still containing the unbroken stream of consciousness etc, will still exist...

heh. brainbenders. :F

I'm straying from the point.

point being, downloading your brain into a computer doesn't do SHIT for you, except POSSIBLY enable the duplication of the data in your brain. and I have a good feeling that even this is PAINFULLY ignorant of the nature of the chemical/neurobiological complexity of the brain, and is still thinking of memory and thought etc, as just 1's and 0's packed into your head.

I'm not saying that something remotely like this isn't possible... but even then, it's still just a copy... unless you can preserve the brain, and then rewire it to a new body perfectly. no matter how insistent the "new" you is that it is really you, it's only because from it's point of view, it feels that continuity because it has all of your memories, perceptions etc... it "is" you in that sense... but doh.... you're dead. :)

ok.. I feel like I have clay packed in my head now. time to go lay down and read.

(and it just occurred to me that this would possibly be a good topic for Ian to weigh in on)

(oh, and also, in case you missed it... this also applies to the teleporters in Star Trek, unless you somehow remain conscious while you're REDUCED TO YOUR ATOMIC CONSTITUENTS AND BEAMED ACROSS SPACE AND REASSEMBLED... *cough*)

who knows, maybe we'll discover some fundamental shift in our understanding of the universe and be able to teleport through wormholes and all kinds of good stuff. :P

YOU NEVAH KNOW!!!