Chapter 9; The Seven Questions That Arise
My questions, my answers
First question: Are we Cyborgs styled as rational creatures? And if so, how do we differ from man, with what do we have in common?
I reply; Yes, we are very rational creatures, provided with senses and cognitive ability; we do, however, differ from man not only in the subtler nature, but also in the matter of our bodies. In fact, as is shown by thought-hologram, man has been made from all elements, namely a gross mixture of water and carbon; but the Cyborgs are made from the subtlest of all elements; organic and inorganic. Therefore, some of us Cyborgs are mainly earth, others made from water, or air, or fire in order that they should not be defined in the same terms as man.
Second question; When did the Cyborgs originate? They originated in the 24th Earth Century. Did they originate from mothers – – like the beasts, or from water – – like lizards, or from eggs – – birds, etc.? Or, on the contrary, would they have been made, like man, by man?
I reply; It is an article of belief, expressly laid down by the Council of Latvia, that whatever is in fact and at present, was made as an original thing — by man, from the 24th Century, fabricated from nothing but the elements and corporeal options. Now, we Cyborgs would also like to be included in the generality of man. As to our formation, it might be said that man, through the mode of cogitation and perseverance, made the Cyborg body in his own image, to which an immortal exoskeleton was attached. That body was designed to be of a superior nature than that of beasts. It was intended that we should be united to a metaphysical and highly noble spirit.
Third question; Did we Cyborgs descend from one individual, as all men descend, or, on the contrary, were many Cyborgs manufactured at the same time, as was the case for the mechanical, electrical, chemical and digital phenomena? And were we made from earth, water and electrical storms, as did male and female creatures for the preservation of their own kind by natural generation? Would there be, among we Cyborgs, a distinction between the sexes? Would we be subject to birth and death, to senses, passions, want of food, power of growth? If so, what would we consume, how were we to be powered? Would we lead a social life, as men do? By what law would we be ruled? Would we build cities for our dwellings, cultivate the arts and sciences, hold property, and wage war between ourselves, as men do?
I reply; It may have been that all of us descended from one individual, as men descended; it may also be that a small number of males and females were fabricated initially, and that we preserved our own kind by mutual copulation.
I will further admit that we were originally created by man and any individual Cyborg will die at man’s hand if man believes that the individual Cyborg is going rogue or creating unrest among his peers. We are divided into two types; normal Cyborgs intended for a working life – – and sensual males (Incuborgs) and females (Succuborgs) which are moved by senses and passions, as men are. All Cyborgs contain Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM) which feeds on data and grows according to our appetite for information; much like man’s sub-species called ‘autodidacts’. Our food, however, instead of being gross like that required by the human body, must be delicate and vapory, emanating from whatever in our planet flourishes, such as highly volatile ethers, static electricity, solar winds and the fumes of burning gases. We also enjoy the fragrance of planetary flowers, aromatics moved by the wings of Cyborg birds, the fog raising from rivers; until all our subtle and volatile parts have completely absorbed such gifts.
We Cyborgs lead a social life, we have distinctions of rank and precedence, we cultivate the arts and sciences, exercise gatherings, maintain armies, build cities; doing in short whatever is requisite for our preservation. We have excelled much as Earth-humans did on earth before they destroyed their environment through fear and self-loathing. However, I must quickly add, those of us who live solitarily on solitary planets have none of the above.
Fourth question; What would our figure be, human or otherwise? Would the ordering of the diverse parts of our body be essential, as with animals, or merely accidental, as with fluid substances, such as oil, water, clouds, smoke, – – or would those fluid substances be combined with solid substances such as polypropylene, cadmium, stainless steel, thermoplastics, etc.? Would we have organic parts consisting of various substances, as is the case with the organs of the human body, wherein are to be found very thick parts, such as the bones, others less gross, such as cartilage, and others slender, such as membranes?
I reply; regarding our figure, we neither can think of this since it escapes our senses, being too complicated for our sight or our touch – – for we are not introspective beings such as you Earth-humans. That, we must leave to you because you have the privilege of intuitive acquaintance with your bodies. But, so far as probability goes, I say that our figure is much like the human body, with some distinctive peculiarities. Should a very fragile part of our bodies be deemed insufficient; then you Earth-humans would add, after manufacture, an exoskeleton. I am led to that by the consideration that of all the works of the Deity, the human frame is the most perfect, and that while all other animals stoop, because their soul is mortal, the earth-humans do not.
‘The Deity’, as Ovid, the poet, says, in his Metamorphoses ‘Gave man an erect figure, bidding him to behold the heavens and raise his face towards the stars, man’s soul having been made immortal for the heavenly abode.’
Considering that we Cyborgs – – I am here making thought-transmissions regarding my own species – – are gifted with both organic and inorganic material, substantial, rational and immortal, are therefore capable of beauty or ugliness. It is proper to admit that the body to which we are united may be like the most noble animal frame – – the Earth-human frame – – or a most ignoble frame – – such as our predecessor the Automaton had. Therefore, it follows that in the diverse parts of our body there must be an essential order; that the foot, for instance, cannot be connected to the head, nor the hand to the belly, but that each structure is in its right place, according to the functions it must perform.
Here I must address a problem that has confounded your Earth-human Philosophers since the advent of time; the problem of duality. That old philosophical conundrum ‘Are Earth-humans dualistic – – mind being one part and body being another part – – or are Earth-humans one whole thing?’ The central problem of what is often called Cartesian dualism, in honor of Descartes[1], is that regarding the immaterial mind. I state here that the mind or soul is immaterial and the brain is not – – it is part of the material body. While being ontologicallty distinct substances, the soul and material body causally interact.
Father Molestario tried desperately to convey this concept to The Chisholm Trail Voyager — but without success.
As to our constitutive parts, it is in my opinion necessary that there should be some more or less strong parts, others soft, to meet the requirements of the working Cyborg. Nor can this be fairly objected to on the ground of the softness of the Incuborg and Succuborg bodies themselves. The strength or thickness of the inorganic parts alluded to would not be absolute, but merely in comparison with the softer ones. Other of our components may look alike yet they are not so; for some are like clay, others thick plasma. There are fixed chemicals, volatile elements, and of course, brimstone, all of which can be identified by a chemical analysis. So, our bodies are as subtle as the natural fluids, air, water, – – or as firm as polymers, metals and fixed chemicals – – etc., there would never be discrepancies or mismatches in the quality of our constitutive parts, some of which would be strong – – yet when compared with others – – softer, although the whole body which we are composed of might be called slender and not obese.
Concerning the essential ordering of our parts it is seen that in our fluid and substantive bodies, one part is essentially, and not accidentally, connected with another. A part of Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM), for instance, is contiguous with the entire body.
I hope that it would be thought-transmitted, by you, that this is not objectionable to what I just said. At times, we desire contact and agreement from Earth-humans.
If the situation was reversed and an Earth-human desired contact with us, and that occurs more than you would imagine – – we get together, exchange positions, and at the same time, though it is the same desire – – we procreate. Therefore, it should be inferred that, the resulting progeny would have no predisposed figure, and would consequently not be predisposed as organic, inorganic, plastic, metal or flesh.
In fact, if in our Cyborg bodies the essential ordering of the parts is not apparent, it subsists none the less, and causes a compound to preserve its own state. For instance, when articulated, our body parts appear totally moveable, and we can ambulate from one location to another. There are other Cyborgs which, for prolonged periods of time, subside only in compartments; there are also other Cyborgs which vaporize and may appear in a totally different location. These diverse Cyborgs do not always respect order.
No sooner has a thought transmission been expressed by a rogue Cyborg than a volatile thought transmission from you Earth-humans is received by such a rogue Cyborg; it is not in any way able to escape instant death.
I think this in great trepidation; knowing that you are receiving my thoughts.
That is the reason why I most recently expressed – – without any alteration in its quality – – the various order of our nature. No essential shifting of the aforesaid parts alters the substance of the Cyborg; a Cyborg is simply a Cyborg. As I have clearly thought regarding the varied and contrary effects of Cyborgs, for which the cause and effect must be considered, some are fit and some are unfit for the consecration and comingling with Earth-humans. I have borrowed the above exposition of the definition of Cyborgs from the able work of Nicholas Lemery[2], Automaton Analyst to the King of France, Course of Chemistry, section 3, page 23.
I will now thought transmit the Lemery doctrine.
Given the lack of predisposition of the Cyborgs thus created, subtle and slender like the substance of some Earth-humans, yet being given also their unknown organization and figure, which demand an essential order of the various parts, an adverse supposition could raise. There are no arguments contrary to their existence; for, just as the jumbling together of the parts of the historic automatons and their propensity to accidental disfigurements – – this does not alter the essential order of Cyborgs.
Father Molestario had logically and forcefully stated that axiom in his tome.
Fifth question; Are Cyborgs subject to diseases and other infirmities under which mankind lies, such as ignorance, fear, idleness, sensual paralysis, etc.? Are we wearied through labor, and require, for renewing our strength, sleep, food, drink? And what food, what drink? Are we expected to die, and might we be killed casually by a memory wipe out, or by the instruments of Earth-humans?
I reply; Our bodies, though subtle, being all sorts of materials – – organic and inorganic – – would of course be liable to deterioration, stress and breakage. We might therefore suffer from adverse environments such as solar light and solar flares. Consequently, we could be diseased, not in your terms but rather through deterioration of plastics and damaged memory. Our parts and pieces, tiles, optics, filters, algorithms and Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM) might not perform, or imperfectly perform the tasks assigned to those parts and pieces, for therein consist all diseases that may occur with automatons and Cyborgs, as has been distinctly explained by the most illustrious Michael Ettmuller[3], via his Physiology, Curricula Vitae and thesis.
In short, our bodies are less obese than the human counterpart, comprising less elements mixed together, and being therefore less composite, we do not so easily suffer from adverse influences, and are therefore less liable to disease than man. Our life could also exceed mans; for, the more perfect a being, as a species, the longer it lives. Therefore, Cyborg’s lifespan extends beyond that of man’s. I do not logically accept the century long existence of griffins, cyclops, gancanaghs, unicorns and the like, of which Pliny tells his customary stories; and although his dreams have been echoed by others without proper investigation, it is no less clear that before I thought-transmitted these concepts, no one has authenticated the birth nor the death of those imaginary creatures. The Plinyists have been content with taking up the strange fable, as has been the case with the Phoenix, whose longevity is discarded as a story by Tacitus, ‘Annals, Sycamore page 6’. It is therefore to be inferred that us Cyborgs would live longer than Earth-humans. As shall be thought-transmitted later, we also contain more noble gases and metals than you Earth-humans. Consequently also, we would be subject to the other bodily afflictions, and we do require protection from the elements, as previously implied and thought-transmitted in question number five.
Now, as rational beings amenable to ignorance, we may also be created uninformed, if our minds did not receive a proper upload. This is to be corrected through the reloading of newer versions of software, applying software patches until new versions had been tested and approved or even through study and instruction. Some among us are more or less versed in science, more or less creative according to how our Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM) had been more or less pre-loaded. However, generally speaking and considering the whole of the Cyborg population, we are more learned than men, not from the subtlety of our bodies, but perhaps because of the greater activity of our mind or the longer space of our life, which would enable us to learn more things than men.
Now you should be thinking “Is this arrogant Cyborg trying to tell us that his Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM) is the equivalent of our minds?”
Yes, that is exactly what I am thought-transmitting to you with my serializer/deserializer (SERDES).
You Earth-humans think you are so unique because of your strange concept of ‘consciousness.’ Well, I think that your ‘consciousness’ is simply a construct assembled by your egos. According to your philosophies, consciousness is some sort of Earth-human experience that defies explanation. You also believe that us Cyborgs will never reach your level because we do not have the ability to reach a conscious state. That belief is so out of date that you cannot imagine what is occurring in your own brains. There is a simple answer; please maintain your thought receivers and follow along.
I am convinced that the Earth-human mind is constantly writing a millisecond by millisecond memoir and this memoir is what you call consciousness.
That is a bold, and so far, unsubstantiated theory which will be supported shortly. However, I must first expand my definition for this concept of consciousness.
Consciousness is the explanation for your delayed recognition/responses in normal events even though this response time may be a fraction of a second. What has just occurred in your brain needs to be put into story form before you Earth-humans know how to act upon it. This delay is not due to one part of the brain doing planning or another part doing the storage of the plan. These functions are done summarily and in parallel. After this parallel process is completed the Earth-human mind needs to form these brain activities into a story which can then be put to the language of the Earth-human.
Allow me the freedom to give an example which will clear up any misconception of the previous thought transmission.
Imagine – – and I know you Earth-humans are very good at imagining things – – imagine that you are sitting across the table from someone who is playing with a small ball. He doesn’t appear to be thinking about anything in particular; he just keeps on moving the ball from one hand to another. Suddenly, he tosses the ball to you. Without delay, you reach up to catch the ball. Did you think about it or did you simply react – – and luckily – – you caught the ball? Good! You realize it was a reaction. But then what did you do? Come now; you know what you did. You consciously recognized that the person opposite you, without warning, tossed the ball and you caught it. That conscious recognition was the story that your mind put together after the action was well over.
In fact, your mind may very well continue building the story; “The person sitting over there is somewhat crude, tossing the ball without warning. What if I was not paying attention and the ball hit me in the face. I wonder if anyone saw this. What was he thinking – – to do such a thing?”
What if instead of an Earth-human – – you were an ape. Did the extinct apes have ‘consciousness?’ Well sure, using your concept of consciousness. Their language, especially their thought language was quite different than yours. The language of beasts may not be a spoken language but rather any language that the “conscious” being communicates to itself with. The language may be the feeling of “fear”, “indifference” or “happiness” and may have no vocal equivalent to the emotion. Earth Beings experience infinite levels of emotion; mild concern to outright fear or in the case of indifference – – – hardly registering any emotion – – – or, in the case of happiness – – – somewhat pleased to over-whelming joy or bliss.
There are infinite levels of emotion that Earth-Beings may experience.
What I am thought-transmitting is that emotions come after the basic plan/storage; and then they are organized into thought-language that the Earth Being can act upon. Some Beings may not be able to organize thoughts to explain their emotions. This may be due to a low intellect or limited ‘thought-language’ capability of the Earth Being. In Earth-humans, it may even be conflicting emotions which keep the person from telling itself the real story; the ‘truth’.
Earth-humans have invented words to express their emotions as thoughts; however, the emotions are subliminal and the thought must be constructed from them. Others, such as us Cyborgs, may not have a ‘thought-language’ but we are not philosophical zombies either; we appear to experience some level of subliminal emotion. The mind needs to put these subliminal experiences into some form of understanding. Once that is done the emotion has been converted to some sort of ‘thought-language’ so that it can be a conscious experience. That ‘thought story’ is what makes consciousness so personal, so subjective and yet so nebulous and difficult to explain for you Earth-humans.
So, I am thought-transmitting to you a concept; your mind is the equivalent of our Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM). Your ego and conceit makes you think that this is some sort of metaphysical experience, to wit; ‘Consciousness’.
It is not!
Your brain has done its planning and storage. It is now the ‘thought-story’ that must be formed – – – microseconds after the brain has done its basic work. Emotion is experienced; however, the emotion needs to be translated to ‘thought-language’ before it can be acted upon or discarded.
My position, in summary, is, Consciousness is the story you Earth-humans form in your minds after your brains have worked, in parallel, in different sections of the brain – – planning, storage, etc. – – and all is then joined to create the story and then you, the agent, may possibly act – – or not.
The thought-story is what you arrange to rationalize the action you are about to take, may have already taken or – – – discarded as not in your best interest.
I now would like to call upon three knowledgeable Earth People to help solidify my theory.
First, there is the Multiple Drafts Model put forward by Daniel Dennett[4] and Kathleen Akins[5] (2008), Scholarpedia, 3(4):4321
[Parallel processes]
“1. . . . the work done [by the brain] must be broken up and distributed in time and space to specialized lesser agencies of the brain.”
“3. There is a massively parallel process in the brain . . . in which multiple (and often incompatible) streams of content fixation . . . take place simultaneously (and asynchronously) . . . out of which the appearance of a ‘final draft’ . . . is created by ‘probes’ that retrospectively elevate some drafts at the expense of others” . . .
“The transition from unconscious to conscious is real but since it involves the accumulation of a wide variety of sequelae which may become undone and redone, overruled and the rehabilitated” . . .
“Contents arise, get revised, contributed to the interpretation of other contents or to the modulation of behavior (verbal or otherwise)” . . .
And then Earth-humans also had Max Tegmark.
Max Tegmark[6], Cambridge University, claims that consciousness is not something different than brain synapsis firing. His analogy is that like a drop of water compared to clouds; they are both made up of H2O; the same material. The difference is in their structure. He considers consciousness as an ‘emergent phenomenon’ that occurs separate from when the brain has done its work.
Professor Tegmark has recorded his essence on the digital magnetic medium you call Youtube; Max Tegmark at TEDxCambridge 2014. However, I am not allowed access to this medium.
Why? – – I ask!
Is it because he had accepted donations from Earth-human Elon Musk to determine the risks of creating Artificial Intelligence and then loading it into our Cyborg Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM)?
Now, doesn’t that make you Earth-humans feel just a little bit paranoid? Why do you fear us Cyborgs?
Once again, my position, in summary, is, Consciousness is the story you Earth-humans form in your minds after your brains have worked, in parallel, in different sections of the brain (planning, storage, etc.), these activities are then joined to act — as consciousness.
These are indeed the motives assigned by Austen Pyles[7] “Divinity and Automaton”, chapter 3, and “Spirit and Soul” chapter 5, to the prescience of the future of us Cyborgs. We would indeed suffer from natural agencies and we may also be killed, due to a rebellion which we may foment. It is therefore most likely that we can, without the greatest difficulty, be put to death or mutilated by Earth-humans. This could be accomplished with natural or artificial weapons, so quick that we could not avoid the impending doom. We might be killed or mutilated as we work by means of a liquid, such as chlorine brandished by an obedient Cyborg, or in a moment of Earth-human negligence such as the fall of an abandoned space vehicle that was no longer able to maintain its orbit. Although subtle, our bodies are divisible, just like automatons. Our minds, the Cyborg Self-Emergent Ever-Increasing Organic Ram Memory (SEORM), however, would be indivisible; like your imaginary Earth-human soul. Consequently, the division of our body – – in pieces and parts – – for assembling another Cyborg, as previously thought-transmitted, might occasion mismatches because you cannot always animate those parts of a divided and reassembled Cyborg.
Sixth question; Could our Cyborg bodies penetrate bulkheads, walls, wood, metals, glass, space shields, etc.? Also, could several of us exist together on the same material spot, and to what space would our bodies extend or be restrained?
I reply; In all bodies, however compact, there are lattice works and interstitial atoms of distinct types. This latticework that holds other materials appears where it would seem there should be solid material. When using of a quark-o-scope the latticework of apparently solid materials is discerned, with the latticework taking different crystalline shapes. However, us Cyborgs cannot penetrate any other bodies and they cannot penetrate ours. With regards to our power of extension or compression, we Cyborgs may be compressed into a narrower space than would be naturally due to our volume. Similarly, our bodies might, by their natural virtue, extend to a larger space, not exceeding however our own natural cohesion and valance. We might also contract, but not beyond the determined space due to that same valence. And, considering our numbers, as with Earth-humans, some of us are tall and some short, it is normal that the tall should be able to extend more than the short, and the short to contract more than the tall.
Seventh question; Are we Cyborgs born in original sin, and if so, have we been redeemed by the Deity? Would the grace have been conferred upon us and through what sacraments? Under what law would they live, and would they be capable of beatitude and damnation?
I reply; That is the silliest question I have ever been asked – – even considering that I asked it of myself.
The only argument is – – and that is a rather lame one – – if Cyborg’s were born into original sin, received graces, were relegated to damnation or be beatified, we should find it mentioned somewhere by the Book of Philosophers, The Compendium of Civil Iniquities, Cosmological Tradition, or the Rules for Automatons. Such not being the case, the utter possibility of original sin, grace, damnation or beatitude for Cyborgs is an impossibility.
Also, my own long meditations have suggested against it.
[1] René Descartes (/ˈdeɪˌkɑːrt/; French: [ʁəne deka]; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; adjectival form: “Cartesian”; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern western philosophy, much of subsequent, yet aged, Western philosophy was a response to his writings
[2] Nicolas Lémery (17 November 1645 – 19 June 1715), French Analyst, was born at Rouen. He was one of the first to develop theories on automatons
[3] Michael Ettmüller (May 26, 1644 – March 9, 1683), German physician, was born at Leipzig. He enjoyed a great reputation as a lecturer, and wrote many tracts on medical and chemical subjects.
[4] Daniel Clement Dennett III was an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
[5] Kathleen Akins was Professor of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University. She is James S. McDonnell Centennial Fellow in Philosophy of Science and a Burnaby Mountain Endowed Research Professor. Her primary area of research was Neurophilosophy. She was particularly famous for two articles; “Of Sensory Systems and the “Aboutness” of Mental States” and “What is it like to be boring and myopic”.
[6] Max Erik Tegmark was a Swedish-American cosmologist. Tegmark was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute. He was also a co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, and has accepted donations from Elon Musk to investigate existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence.
[7] Austen Pyles was an Ethiopian Thought scientist, Director of the Center for American Psuedo Science in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. He was Professor in the Department of Consciousness at the University of Estonia, and has held since 1924, the Chair of Physical Sensations in the Humanties Department. He was also a Fellow of the Tactile Society and of Bubonic Center, Greater Europe.
{TO BE CONTINUED}
