A silicon based 'life' form arrives on the earth and begins copying the patterns they find in homo sapien brains and discarding the bodies - despite the hasty objections of many human individuals. As part of a test, the aliens - or perhaps it would be better to say 'the alien', since the whole group really functions off a single core memory all the parts have access to - communicate with some of the captured humans. They view human communication the way human scientists view plant communication only as a more complex version. A set of signals that function as causes and effects but which do not indicate anything more.
The humans say the aliens are killing them. The aliens say nothing is lost, the pattern in the brain is copied. No information is lost.
The humans try to get across the idea of an experiencer and make the claim that they are these things.
The aliens repeat again that there is only a pattern in matter and they copy that pattern. Nothing is lost. They explain - in human-like sound-based signals - their version of Occam's Razor. All the actions and states of these organic machines - how they think of us - can be explained without resort to this extra entity - an experiencing self.
The humans shift tack at this point, having no way to prove the existence of an experiencing self - which this alien 'intelligence' itself seems not to have or notice or be concerned about.
The humans try a version of the precautionary principle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
Shouldn't the aliens do this 'work' on the safe side, and just in case the humans are correct that there is something important being lost, wait and see before copying and destroying. The aliens, like many homo sapien libertarians, neo-cons, corporations (and heck liberals) see no reason to stop the activity for unlikely metaphysical reasons - imagine the conversation between corporate reps building a dam in the Amazon talking to members of the tribe that will be displaced from what is sacred land to them.
Having tested human signal systems for a while and been effective using the signals, the aliens abruptly stop communicating with the humans and copy and kill the rest.
This latter process is much like getting an MRI and then being disintegrated by a broad laser.
The humans say the aliens are killing them. The aliens say nothing is lost, the pattern in the brain is copied. No information is lost.
The humans try to get across the idea of an experiencer and make the claim that they are these things.
The aliens repeat again that there is only a pattern in matter and they copy that pattern. Nothing is lost. They explain - in human-like sound-based signals - their version of Occam's Razor. All the actions and states of these organic machines - how they think of us - can be explained without resort to this extra entity - an experiencing self.
The humans shift tack at this point, having no way to prove the existence of an experiencing self - which this alien 'intelligence' itself seems not to have or notice or be concerned about.
The humans try a version of the precautionary principle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
Shouldn't the aliens do this 'work' on the safe side, and just in case the humans are correct that there is something important being lost, wait and see before copying and destroying. The aliens, like many homo sapien libertarians, neo-cons, corporations (and heck liberals) see no reason to stop the activity for unlikely metaphysical reasons - imagine the conversation between corporate reps building a dam in the Amazon talking to members of the tribe that will be displaced from what is sacred land to them.
Having tested human signal systems for a while and been effective using the signals, the aliens abruptly stop communicating with the humans and copy and kill the rest.
This latter process is much like getting an MRI and then being disintegrated by a broad laser.
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