Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Personalities 'R Us (was Re: The Cryonic Nation) Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 89 01:58:16 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 25 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In article Daniel.Mocsny@uc.edu (daniel mocsny) writes: >What if person X wants to become person Y, and having done so, decides >that person X was really best after all. This is person Y's opinion >now, but after changing back to person X, Y looks just as attractive >as before, because person X believes so and that is that. The >progression need not be cyclic, it could merely be infinite in any >direction. Actually, if you want to be a person who is satisfied with himself, then you're likely to settle into a "stable state" -- a person who doesn't want to be someone else. On the other hand, you may want to be constantly taking on new personalities. After all, isn't that what actors want? For interesting speculation on what might happen when you can pick up a new personality as easily as a new video, check out Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick. _______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi University of Rochester yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu Computer Science Department _______________________________________________________________________________