XPost: sci.skeptic, alt.conspiracy, soc.history   
   From: x@x.org   
      
   On 11/4/25 17:12, JTEM wrote:   
   > On 11/4/25 6:38 PM, x wrote:   
   >   
   >> All of these are sensations, which are the byproduct of   
   >> sensory nerves coming in from the eyes, ears, body, nose,   
   >> and tongue.   
   >   
   > Computers don't have sensory nerves.   
      
   There you are playing with the word 'nerve'   
   rather than 'wire', but computers have an   
   array of input devices.  I am using one now   
   called a 'keyboard' that I am typing various   
   buttons called 'keys.  I also have an optical   
   mouse.  I will use that when I click on a portion   
   of the screen often called a 'command button'.   
      
   Both the mouse and the keyboard are typical   
   input devices.   
      
   > A lot -- most/all -- of these "Upload" talk is based on the   
   > myth that your mind would even be capable of interfacing   
   > with a computer.   
      
   Well there is something called 'minds' and there is   
   something called 'brains'.  I tend to think of 'minds'   
   as something like 'software' and 'brains' as something   
   like 'hardware'.  But the brain does send output to   
   something called 'motor nerves' that often interface   
   with something called 'muscles'.   
      
   My 'brain' is sending output to muscles in my forearm   
   and hand.  This causes various muscle fibers to contract   
   in my forearm and that causes movement in my fingers.   
   I think this is a reasonably effective way of outputting   
   from the nerve aggregate of my 'brain' to input into   
   the computer.   
      
   Now in theory there could be ways of coming up with a   
   way of picking up direct firings of nerve patterns in   
   the brain, but that could lead to the possibility of   
   brain infection from the implanted electrodes.  Either   
   way, there is the question, how do you know you have   
   a 'soul'?  How do you know you have a 'mind'?  I admit   
   that I may have neither a 'mind' or a 'soul.  But again,   
   I am thinking that no one can really know whether they   
   have either a 'mind' or a 'soul' if one gets too unclear   
   in the meaning of these terms.  You can say backwards   
   and forwards again and again that you have both a 'mind'   
   and a 'soul' but if the terms are actually unclear you   
   are effectively saying and insisting that you have a   
   (gibberish).   
      
   If you are insisting that you have a (gibberish) then   
   you can have as much of a (gibberish) as you want to   
   have.  Go for the gusto.  Have all of the (gibberish).   
      
   > ...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)