Are Zombies Logically Possible?

And Why It Matters


Before considering the mere logical possibility of philosophical zombies, I want to digress briefly on the matter of their actuality or nomological possibility. A real zombie would be an actual being who is either physically identical to some human being, or is physically identical to some genuinely possible human being but who is utterly lacking in consciousness. To assert that zombies are nomologically possible would be to assert that in some world that shares all of its laws with the actual world there is a being identical to some actual or genuinely possible human being who is utterly lacking in consciousness. Of course, the existence of a real zombie would entail that zombies are nomologically as well as logically possible, but the reverse entailments do not hold.

The robust sense of reality so necessarily lacking when discussing the logical possibility of zombies, should instantly reassert itself if we ask, even while, for the moment, granting the possibility of zombies, whether there are, or are likely to be, or ever have been, any real or even just nomologically possible zombies. Clearly, the question of whether there are any philosophical zombies actually lurking among us is a form of the venerable problem of other minds. I take it that this question deserves the same kind of answer as other distinctively philosophically skeptical questions, such as whether the world might have been created five minutes ago, or whether there is any 'external' world at all.

Note an important difference here between skeptical questions like those of other minds and external reality and what I take to be quite non-skeptical, though distinctively philosophical, worries, such as the problem of the freedom of the will. The problem of freedom depends upon a tension between commonsense, intuition and certain interpretations of what we know (or think we know) about the laws of nature. This tension is such that the intuitive appeal of belief in the existence of free will seems to be in prima facie conflict with scientific knowledge, and the familiar arguments against the existence of freedom exploit this tension in various ways. The skeptical hypotheses are not like this. They conflict equally with all of intuition, commonsense and what we know about the laws of nature. Thus trying to defend seriously either the actual existence or the nomological possibility of zombies would require denying those laws of nature which seem to link physical states to states of consciousness. Of course, we don't know very much about these laws, but it is already abundantly clear that there are any number of quite particular regularities between neural systems, states and processes and varieties of conscious experience, and many of these are already being scouted out by our rapidly developing neurosciences (for just one striking example see Tong et.al. 1998).

www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~seager/zombie.html


@#!!@*#* ?%#@ !!!!!

Thick As A Brick


Really don't mind if you sit this one out.

My words but a whisper -- your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can't make you think.
Your sperm's in the gutter -- your love's in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
you make all your animal deals and
your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.
And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away in
the tidal destruction
the moral melee.
The elastic retreat rings the close of play as the last wave uncovers
the newfangled way.
But your new shoes are worn at the heels and
your suntan does rapidly peel and
your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.

And the love that I feel is so far away:
I'm a bad dream that I just had today -- and you
shake your head and
say it's a shame.

Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth.
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth.
Spin me down the long ages: let them sing the song.

See there! A son is born -- and we pronounce him fit to fight.
There are black-heads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night.
We'll
make a man of him
put him to trade
teach him
to play Monopoly and
to sing in the rain.

The Poet and the painter casting shadows on the water --
as the sun plays on the infantry returning from the sea.
The do-er and the thinker: no allowance for the other --
as the failing light illuminates the mercenary's creed.
The home fire burning: the kettle almost boiling --
but the master of the house is far away.
The horses stamping -- their warm breath clouding
in the sharp and frosty morning of the day.
And the poet lifts his pen while the soldier sheaths his sword.

And the youngest of the family is moving with authority.
Building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide to wash them all aside.

The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river
where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea:
the builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose
and contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need.
The young men of the household have
all gone into service and
are not to be expected for a year.
The innocent young master -- thoughts moving ever faster --
has formed the plan to change the man he seems.
And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword.

And the oldest of the family is moving with authority.
Coming from across the sea, he challenges the son who puts him to the run.

What do you do when
the old man's gone -- do you want to be him? And
your real self sings the song.
Do you want to free him?
No one to help you get up steam --
and the whirlpool turns you `way off-beam.

LATER.
I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways.
My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.
So come on all you criminals!
I've got to put you straight just like I did with my old man --
twenty years too late.
Your bread and water's going cold.
Your hair is too short and neat.
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.

You curl your toes in fun as you smile at everyone -- you meet the stares.
You're unaware that your doings aren't done.
And you laugh most ruthlessly as you tell us what not to be.
But how are we supposed to see where we should run?
I see you shuffle in the courtroom with
your rings upon your fingers and
your downy little sidies and
your silver-buckle shoes.
Playing at the hard case, you follow the example of the comic-paper idol
who lets you bend the rules.

So!
Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won't you rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament. Won't you?
Join your local government.
We'll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.

You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time.
The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line.
And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are --
and take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars.
And you wonder who to call on.

So! Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you though?
They're all resting down in Cornwall --
writing up their memoirs for a paper-back edition
of the Boy Scout Manual.

LATER.
See there! A man born -- and we pronounce him fit for peace.
There's a load lifted from his shoulders with the discovery of his disease.
We'll
take the child from him
put it to the test
teach it
to be a wise man
how to fool the rest.

QUOTE
We will be geared to the average rather than the exceptional
God is an overwhelming responsibility
we walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons
cats are on the upgrade
upgrade? Hipgrave. Oh, Mac.

LATER
In the clear white circles of morning wonder,
I take my place with the lord of the hills.
And the blue-eyed soldiers stand slightly discoloured (in neat little rows)
sporting canvas frills.
With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,
while queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.
Saying -- how's your granny and
good old Ernie: he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win.

The legends (worded in the ancient tribal hymn) lie cradled
in the seagull's call.
And all the promises they made are ground beneath the sadist's fall.
The poet and the wise man stand behind the gun,
and signal for the crack of dawn.
Light the sun.

Do you believe in the day? Do you?
Believe in the day! The Dawn Creation of the Kings has begun.
Soft Venus (lonely maiden) brings the ageless one.
Do you believe in the day?
The fading hero has returned to the night -- and fully pregnant with the day,
wise men endorse the poet's sight.
Do you believe in the day? Do you? Believe in the day!

Let me tell you the tales of your life of
your love and the cut of the knife
the tireless oppression
the wisdom instilled
the desire to kill or be killed.
Let me sing of the losers who lie in the street as the last bus goes by.
The pavements ar empty: the gutters run red -- while the fool
toasts his god in the sky.

So come all ye young men who are building castles!
Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus.
Mark the precise nature of your fear.
Let me help you pick up your dead as the sins of the father are fed
with
the blood of the fools and
the thoughts of the wise and
from the pan under your bed.
Let me make you a present of song as
the wise man breaks wind and is gone while
the fool with the hour-glass is cooking his goose and
the nursery rhyme winds along.

So! Come all ye young men who are building castles!
Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus.
Mark the precise nature of your fear.
See! The summer lightning casts its bolts upon you
and the hour of judgement draweth near.
Would you be
the fool stood in his suit of armour or
the wiser man who rushes clear.
So! Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won't your rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super-crooks and
show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament.
Won't you? Join your local government.
We'll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.
So! Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you through?
They're all resting down in Cornwall -- writing up their memoirs
for a paper-back edition of the Boy Scout Manual.

OF COURSE
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
you make all your animal deals and
your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.

www.subgenius.com/bigfist/p..._doac.html

TAIWAN (The Skwib) — Not content with the breakthrough in creating fluorescent pigs, scientists in Taiwan have produced glow-in-the-dark babies.

“Unlike pigs, babies are only green on surface — much easier to create than green-all-through pigs,” Principal Investigator (PI) Wo Mian, told The Skwib.

The team of geneticists say they are especially pleased that they think the babies will be able to cause themselves to glow, just like a firefly.

“Yes, we add jellyfish and firefly genetic material, so babies glow when they want,” Mian said.

Mian and the other researchers are all part of the Department of Messing About with Stuff Best Left Alone at the National Taiwan University.

To create them, DNA from jellyfish and fireflies was added to about 265 human embryos which were implanted in eight different women. Three women became pregnant and two male babies were born.

The researchers hope that as they grow into maturity, the two will become sexually promiscuous and engender an entire race of glow-in-the-dark humans.

“Think of it,” Mian said, “never again will mister pee on seat in dark and upset wife!”

The Wandering Jew is a figure from Christian folklore. The legend relates that a Jewish shoemaker, taunting Jesus on the way to crucifixion, was told by him "thou shalt go on forever till I return". The shoemaker was thus punished for his indiscretion by being forced to wander the earth until the second coming of Jesus.

Others trace it to the Matthew 16:28:

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

When some interpreters see the "wandering Jew" as a metaphorical personification of the Jewish diaspora, the subtext that links the two is that the destruction of Jerusalem was in retribution for Jewish responsibility for the Crucifixion. A more allegorical view claims instead that the "wandering Jew" personifies any individual who has been made to see the error of his wickedness, if the mocking of the Passion epitomizes the callousness of mankind toward the suffering of human beings.

A variety of names have been given for the Wandering Jew, including:

* Ahasuerus (or Ahasverus)
* Buttadeus (or Buttadeu)
* Cartaphilus
* Der ewige Jude (German: "the eternal Jew")
* Le Juif errant (French: "the wandering Jew")
* Juan Espera en Dios (Spanish: "John [who] waits for God")

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wandering_Jew