multifoliaterose comments on If reductionism is the hammer, what nails are out there? - Less Wrong

14 Post author: AnnaSalamon 11 December 2010 01:58PM

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Comment author: ata 11 December 2010 10:49:37PM 7 points [-]

For example, I had lunch the other day with a physics professor from a good university who thought that, even if we could assemble an atom-for-atom duplicate of a person's exact physical state, it might well not act like a person for want of a soul.

...a PHYSICS PROFESSOR??

That makes my head hurt.

And that makes me realize that, after all this time reading LW and OB, I must still be overestimating academia. Consider me updated.

Comment author: multifoliaterose 13 December 2010 03:17:28AM *  2 points [-]

It's important to understand that there's likely strong compartmentalization going on here. Having such beliefs is not mutually exclusive with being a strong scientific researcher. Such indications should not be read as overly strong indications of low levels of general competence.