Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!tcdcs!maths.tcd.ie!ftoomey
From: ftoomey@maths.tcd.ie (Fergal Toomey)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: computer life?
Keywords: Survival, instincts
Message-ID: <1991Mar1.174320.16314@maths.tcd.ie>
Date: 1 Mar 91 17:43:20 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Lines: 23
References:<1791@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>

Pim Lemmens writes:

>In my opinion, a very important aspect has been omitted from the ongoing
>discussion so far: The drive to survive. If we (or any other creature)
>would not have an instinct for survival or an other mechanism to protect
>our life, we would not be there. And if that instinct would not have been
>supported by the means to detect threats to our life and to repel them,
>it would be useless.

On the other hand, it's possible that a mutation could be born tomorrow
which would lack the drive to survive, but would be normal in all other
respects. Such a mutant would be unlikely to last long, but in my opinion
it would still count as being alive.

I remember a report a couple of years ago about a sea bird colony near
Sellafield (a nuclear processing plant in Wales). Apparently some of the
chicks being hatched in the colony lacked the instinct to eat, and died
of starvation after a couple of days. Nevertheless, while they were alive,
they were alive...

>Pim Lemmens.

Fergal Toomey.