It was a long time ago, back when the great collider broke down for the first time. And while in its kilometer-long tunnels unhurriedly rattled wrenches locksmiths, professors, forced to be free from catching bosons, released for a visit to their home universities.
My friend Valdas, on his way to his native Kaunas, came to visit us for a couple of days. And he gave us all an overview, in a friendly way, of the achievements of science in its pursuit of its goals. For some reason people were terribly enthusiastic about these stories. And when they went up to the roof for a smoke break – whichever group of talkers you approach – the topic is the same: science and rumors of its achievements.
Joining one group, I listened to what the most scientist among us, double biologist Misha, was saying. And I heard amazing things. Our brain, Misha told us, controls everything that happens in the body so completely that we can say that everything that happens happens only in the brain. To the point that-never mind you-when potassium cyanide hits only the taste buds, before it has had time to penetrate the bloodstream-the body immediately, at the behest of the brain, dies. Well, and other soul-crushing examples were given by our once Moscow and now Middle Eastern biologist.
And it turns out – why does the brain need a body if it’s the only thing that means anything? Misha himself asked this question and answered it himself in the face of the audience’s enthusiastic silence: the body is the receptive zone of the brain. There you go. Effectively.
But – then such conclusions are invited, they queue up with the request to formulate them, such conclusions!…such conclusions! – that all the living being of man, – the wool bends, – stumbles on all four of them, if one tries to lead him through the prongs of these conclusions. After all, they were digging and digging in the brain and finally came to the conclusion that the brain is an electro-mechanical structure. And it, the brain, cannot “understand” anything – understanding is inside us.
Now another step on the barbs of the conclusion: the “electromechanical structure” is not something that can feel like “I.” In this case, the “I” is the only difference between a person and everything else (about this below). If so, then the combination of body and brain, which a person perceives as his existence, is nothing more than a receptive zone and an instrument of some “I” of this person, which really (!) exists in an unknown place.
After all, to say that it is in this body and brain is impossible. Because technology now makes it possible to scan a person’s entire body and brain down to the molecules – and you won’t find anything but molecules. Rather, with respect to this phenomenon, the self, the question of place is irrelevant altogether. That’s why the poor person, in order not to bother, and has to identify himself, native, i.e. his mysterious self, with a set of properties of his body and brain.
Now a little about “the only difference between man and everything else. It is known that it is already possible to create intelligent machines that can solve technical problems, even human inaccessible, and will be able to create their own kind. Moreover – self-learning and capable of creating programs for the development of generations of machines – i.e. an entire machine civilization. Not fantastic.
What is the difference between this machine and a human being? She can say “I” about herself, but all her “I” and all the subtle possibilities of her “personal” definition of the situation will be reduced to the results of processing the totality of her sensor data. And even if she can ask questions-and both her questions and her magnificent ability to predict future situations-will be the result of the self-learning programs that are embedded in her. Or that its creators, previous generations of cars, installed in it. That is, the “self” inherent in man, which is nowhere to be found, will be absent from it. Oh, I’m sorry – it won’t be inherent in her.
Speaking of questions. Scientists have also reached unprecedented heights in their work with monkeys. Gorillas have been taught to communicate through sign language. Chimpanzees – the language of cards with pictures or conventions. That is, monkeys turned out just like humans. The one thing they didn’t do, even though they were given, deliberately, opportunities to do so, was they didn’t ask questions. The animal asks no questions. All for the same reason….
Yes, yes, that’s it. The “self” that is (sorry, typo again:)-that is inherent in man.
