Beyond the SoulJames J. Hughes Ph.D.

Public Policy, Trinity CollegeExecutive Director, Institute for Ethics and

Emerging Technologies director@ieet.org

Ensoulment Views“The Soul of Trans-Humanism” By Ted Peters (2005)Immortal souls not an orthodox Christian, creedal beliefVarieties of Christian Soul Views:Substance DualismTrichotomyEmergent DualismNon-reductive PhysicalismTheological MaterialismAtheistic Materialism

Spirit Dualisms Substance Dualism

Hindu atman and most lay theism Pre-existing and after death essence

Trichotomy Body, soul (mind/brain), spirit (supra-

physical) Baptism replaces human spirit with

divine spirit Emergent Dualism

Soul emergent from the brain, but supraphysical

Before the body, no soul

Materialist Ideas of the Soul Non-reductive Physicalism

Soul/Mind cannot be reduced to the brain

No body, no soul

Resurrection of the body necessary

Theological Materialism Soul is a conscious, physical brain’s

attunement to God

(Uploads and robots could have this kind of soul)

Atheistic Materialism “Soul” is meaningless: there is only

consciousness and self-identity

Enlightenment and Self Liberal individualism: rational,

autonomous, continuous citizens, consumers, contractors

Individual is fundamental unit of analysis Hobbes: individuals sacrifice freedom for

rational goal of security Rights of Man, Bill of Rights Mill: individuals given freedom to pursue

own ends will maximize social happiness

Locke Bridge to atheist materialism God made thinking matter Theological materialist, but

resurrected body will be of different matter

Memory is bridge from life to resurrected body

Subjective identity necessary for Judgment, accountability

Self is Thinking, Memory, Identity …to find wherein personal

Identity consists, we must consider what Person stands for; which, I think, is a thinking intelligent Being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places… (Locke, 1689)

Splitting Identity Locke: if

identity is memory in matter, it could be split

Hume’s Empiricist Skepticism All cause-effects are

perceptual illusions The continuity of the self is a

perceptual illusion "…a bundle or collection of

different perceptions which succeed one another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement" (Hume, 1739)

Threat to Liberal Individualism If personal identity is an illusion, what of

the Enlightenment project of building a new society of rational individuals pursuing self interests through democracy and market exchange?

If we are so confused about the very nature of our selves how is it possible for us to create a society based on the equality of citizens, morally accountable persons and individual rights?

Selfless and irrational individuals might instead validate benevolent despotism towards collective goods.

Neuroscience and the Self No localization in the brain

Many processes: Senses, Proprioception, Awareness, Cognition

Split brain Memory is narrative fiction

Kahneman: experiencing self vs. remembered self

Thomas Metzinger Self-identity is fluid, selective

Derek Parfit Reasons and Persons Identity is probabilistic over time Eventually our identity with our

future selves declines to equal identity with interests of all others

Post-self utilitarianism: act in the interest of all future persons as if own self

Transhumanism and Identity

“Future Minds: Transhumanism, Cognitive Enhancement and the Nature of Persons” Susan Schneider (2009) drawing on Ray Kurzweil1.Ego (Ensoulment)2.Materialism (You are your body)3.Psychological continuity (Patternism)4.No Self

Transhumanist FAQ “Many philosophers who have studied the

problem think that at least under some conditions, an upload of your brain would be you. A widely accepted position is that you survive so long as certain information patterns are conserved, such as your memories, values, attitudes, and emotional dispositions, and so long as there is causal continuity so that earlier stages of yourself help determine later stages of yourself.... These problems are being intensely studied by contemporary analytic philosophers, and although some progress has been made, e.g. in Derek Parfit’s work on personal identity, they have still not been resolved to general satisfaction.”

Patternists: Cryonics Replace the body, but

maintain the contents of the brain

But how much can be recovered?

Patternists: Mark Walker" Cognitive Enhancement and the Identity Objection” (2008)Changing too quickly could destroy self-continuityWhy does pace of change matter to identity from time A to time B?Acknowledges that identity is only subjective

Patternists: Martine Rothblatt You are a collection of bemes

Bemes are fundamental, transmissible, mutate-able units of beingness; elements of personality, mannerisms, feelings, recollections, beliefs, values, and attitudes.

Putting back together enough of your bemes will re-create you

Not the kind of rich subjectivity most people associate with identity

Constantly changing? Multiple copies? Recombinant?

Patternists: Max More

"The Diachronic Self: Identity, Continuity, Transformation“ (1995)If you maintain strong values, even if you lose all memories, you are still youEspecially if self-transformation is your strong valuePersonality erasure not what most transhumanists sign up for

Robin Hanson “If uploads come first”

(1994) If there are a thousand

copies of you, who owns your stuff?

Transhumanism and No Self Radical cognitive malleability

Memory recording, erasure, modification, sharing

Conscious identity selection, merged identity

Body identity modification: none, extra, multiple

Supression, selection, enhancement of values

Radical life extension and transmigration Identity maintenance over millions of years?

Over multiple types of instantiation?

End of Liberal Individualism Anomic disorientation End of individual

accountability Debate over criminal liability

Borgian communitarianism (self at a higher level)

Buddhist answer: self and no-self

Post-Self Society as X-RiskNick Bostrom (2004): “We can thus imagine a technologically highly advanced society, containing many sorts of complex structures, some of which are much smarter and more intricate than anything that exists today, in which there would nevertheless be a complete absence of any type of being whose welfare has moral significance.

In a sense, this would be an uninhabited society. All the kinds of being that we care even remotely about would have vanished… the catastrophe would be that such a world would not contain even the right kind of machines, i.e. ones that are conscious and whose welfare matters. (Bostrom, 2004)

Buddhist No Self Embracing the reality of the

constantly changing and illusory nature of self is liberating

We can, and must, use self concept while recognizing its emptiness

Property, legal liability, contracts presume continuity, but we need (arbitrary) agreements about when identity is lost

New Enlightenment Beyond the myth of the liberal self Beyond the illusive goal of

personal immortality Beyond the identity/rupture of

humanity to posthumanity Consciously embracing the reality

of our continual self-imagination To what ends?

For more: “Contradictions of the Enlighte

nment: Liberal Individualism versus the Erosion of Personal Identity”http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20111119

director@ieet.org