DM> Mr Brown !!! you are opening the Pandora's box of "consciousness 
 DM> into reality", toying with the soul as some media function in the 
 DM> mix with a still in "thought-design-phase "HOLODECK" as a dynamic 
 DM> exploratory device.  That is, for me, a bit of metal to toss around. 
 DM> For one, we would have to have some "working definitions" of agreement 
 DM> as to how we might use the player elements and the construction 
 DM> of the stage we would play them on. 
 DM>   
 DM>      Some player elements: 
 DM>      1. Qualities of being (the goods, the bads and the uglies...plus) 
 DM>      2. Soul (smart communications media)? 
 DM>      3. Awareness/consciousness (smart gameboard ?) 
 DM>      4. Death and/or optional continuations/states of "being" 
 DM>      5. Purpose of conscious being ? 
That looks like a reasonably complete set of elements Dave.  Your 
last one looks to me like it would depend on characteristics that 
arise in the previous 4.  For instance, the purpose of a soulless 
avatar would only arise in it's effect on souls.  Such an avatar, 
having no soul, would not need awareness or consciousness either. 
When it ceased, or died, it's constituent elements would recycle, 
and be available for other forms and/or uses. 
 
My sense in general, is that everyone we see is much like someone 
or something in a movie, with a part in advancing the plot.  That 
part may involve a self conception of purpose that only makes any 
sense in terms of some limited reality subsystem, a digression, a 
subplot, if you will.  Citizen Kane operated as if his success in 
the pursuit of power and money mattered, even though he was aware 
that his purpose was pretty trivial- which awareness pained him. 
   
 DM>   I would accept the "Holodeck" as a smart abstraction of the stage 
 DM>   function, but the rest might require some negotiation ...I think. 
 DM>   Initially it can only be a game with players ....with some hope 
 DM>   that a pearl might lurk in an unexpected mud bank ...accident or ??? 
 DM>   Such an activity would be an exploration into the 2nd heaviest 
 DM>   "CORNER"  of existence (the 1st being the actual inventor of such a 
 DM>   "CORNER" )! The more religious on this echo might get the 
 DM>   impression we are searching out a God they have already found 
 DM> ! 
Their impression is not my problem; it is theirs.  I can see very 
clearly the frustration from the failure of the mandate to preach 
to all nations and convert them to the faith- which by now, it is 
pretty clear, is not going to be successful.  Despite my efforts, 
perhaps because of my limitations, you, or anyone, may not see my 
presentations as an adequate explanation.  That is not my problem 
either- I have no mandate to preach; I do have a mandate to teach 
myself what is going on, and these discussions with you- help me! 
 
DB> Well, for one, everyone would know that there could be no secrets 
DB> among them, that no noble, nor despicable act could remain hidden 
DB> from them.  Wouldn't the balance between noblity and depravity be 
DB> used for the diagnosis?  And where the balance is lacking, what's 
DB> to be done?  Erasure? Another option would be another form for an 
DB> ill soul to take... re-incarnation? or, perhaps more accurrately, 
DB> a re*form*ation, not limited to forms in this reality system. 
 DM>   
 DM>    We would first have to conjecture a reason and a will to care 
 DM>    into concern the items you have listed of importance. Why bother 
 DM>    to judge, consider repair or punishment? Despicable acts are 
 DM>    only so by transient definitions of questionable life forms. If 
 DM>    we are to take such things serious, we might first have to stake 
 DM>    out the why and what of it. Secrets become meaningless when we 
 DM>    expand past their limited value ......re-incarnation also becomes 
 DM>    a questionable waste of being unless the point of evolving can be 
 DM>    explained as more than a poetic jig! The balance between nobility 
 DM>    and depravity might be negotiable or non existent variables once 
 DM>    measured from another vantage. It all becomes a relative game in a 
 DM>    parochial sandbox ....unless nudged up a notch by some an inspired 
 DM>    itch or two..............froma where ??? 
From Neitzsche? 
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