Different things, when in agreement, infallibly produce some sort of result. That's what interests me in all of these thought experiments: dynamic results.
[He speaks like the kind of man whose own mind can keep him occupied for quite a long time... but not indefinitely, of course. It's why interactions with people like Myr are not a mere treat or luxury, but necessary for L to retain his sanity, because surviving wholly in a vacuum is rather too much even for famous and noted recluses.]
I feel that my meaning was unclear. I never meant to imply that our lives don't matter; to us, they're obviously very important, along with the day-to-day minutiae of our desires and whims. But the majority of human beings who have ever lived are deceased, at least in my world... billions upon billions, and only those who were astonishingly noteworthy even have a few paragraphs in memoriam in the history books. Most will be swept aside and forgotten by time, and it won't matter to them, because... at least in my world, I have reason to believe that humans do not look forward to any sort of consciousness after death. There's no afterlife, and reincarnation is doubtful; there's nothing, and so in many ways, our pursuit of knowledge is a restless attempt to pass our brief time on earth, find scraps of meaning, and make some kind of peace with the darkness that waits for us at the end. Then again...
[A pause.]
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transferred. If life is energy, and there's no reason to doubt that the processing power of a brain is not at least a tremendous amount of it, something of that must continue on, in some form.
[It's a heck of a tangent. He clears his throat and strives to get back on topic.]
It's a touch more complicated than the argument that a weapon can be a force for good in the hands of a hero, or a force for evil in the hands of a villain. It does think and act on its own judgment. That being said, it can be influenced; I've witnessed and even done this. The evolution of its highly adaptable intelligence is both unprecedented and fascinating, and unlike anything in my world except on a very comparatively rudimentary level. In that way... rather than a weapon, I would think of it in this way as more like a child. Some notions and tendencies are infant and undeveloped, but I've observed evidence to show that it won't always be the case, given the way it experiences its existence in Aefenglom that is both novel and alien to its sensibilities.
no subject
[He speaks like the kind of man whose own mind can keep him occupied for quite a long time... but not indefinitely, of course. It's why interactions with people like Myr are not a mere treat or luxury, but necessary for L to retain his sanity, because surviving wholly in a vacuum is rather too much even for famous and noted recluses.]
I feel that my meaning was unclear. I never meant to imply that our lives don't matter; to us, they're obviously very important, along with the day-to-day minutiae of our desires and whims. But the majority of human beings who have ever lived are deceased, at least in my world... billions upon billions, and only those who were astonishingly noteworthy even have a few paragraphs in memoriam in the history books. Most will be swept aside and forgotten by time, and it won't matter to them, because... at least in my world, I have reason to believe that humans do not look forward to any sort of consciousness after death. There's no afterlife, and reincarnation is doubtful; there's nothing, and so in many ways, our pursuit of knowledge is a restless attempt to pass our brief time on earth, find scraps of meaning, and make some kind of peace with the darkness that waits for us at the end. Then again...
[A pause.]
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transferred. If life is energy, and there's no reason to doubt that the processing power of a brain is not at least a tremendous amount of it, something of that must continue on, in some form.
[It's a heck of a tangent. He clears his throat and strives to get back on topic.]
It's a touch more complicated than the argument that a weapon can be a force for good in the hands of a hero, or a force for evil in the hands of a villain. It does think and act on its own judgment. That being said, it can be influenced; I've witnessed and even done this. The evolution of its highly adaptable intelligence is both unprecedented and fascinating, and unlike anything in my world except on a very comparatively rudimentary level. In that way... rather than a weapon, I would think of it in this way as more like a child. Some notions and tendencies are infant and undeveloped, but I've observed evidence to show that it won't always be the case, given the way it experiences its existence in Aefenglom that is both novel and alien to its sensibilities.