Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 09:52:06 CDT
From: hopkins-AT-twinearth.wustl.edu (Patrick Hopkins)
Subject: Re: human body transformation


Sean writes:

>>Well, what might also be worth considering is to what extent we are already
lost all the time.
>>I die where I end.  My ends are very limited.  I may expand them or extend
them.  But are they ever all?
>>So is death at work or play or whatever even when we are functioning?
>>These kinds of things seem to strike at the heart of _identity_.  It is
interesting to consider to what extent they reflect upon _mortality_.  And
also to consider the nuances of change _and_ ending. 

"Identity" can be somewhat ambiguous here--cultural identity or self-
consistency through time.  But perhaps in both cases you could say that
technology could alter identity.  If human identity is supposed to be
characterized by being--towards-death, then changes in the horizon and 
permanence of death would presumably change that being-towards.  Today
people who have the faith/hope and the money get frozen hoping to be
revivified in the future.  People with less money just get their heads
frozen.  Is their being-towards-death different?  Seems so.

And the kind of technology that might get us to a near-immortality would
also alter this being-towards-death.  If we just had a tech that could stop
the aging process, so that we continually self-healed, then we would only have
to fear death from accident and murder.  I suspect this would produce wildly
agoraphobic reactions.  If you could live forever if you only took care of 
yourself and weren't exposed to danger, then limiting that risk might become
paramount.  On the other hand, if we could have some sort of serial immortality
of the kind transporter or nano tech could produce, then we could take many
more risks than ever before.  If I wanted to sky-dive, I could just update
my pattern before I left and if I died, I could just be recorporealized back
at the clinic (or wherever).

Patrick


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