Speed-of-Light
Travel and Aging
The
most basic measure of time is entropy.
The processes of entropy would be much slower at just below the speed
of light. Therefore if Mr X is travelling at near the speed of light,
then he would age much less quickly than his friends on earth. However, all
his biological and physical processes would be slower too. Indeed if
we could get our biological processes to slow down without travelling
at just below the speed of light, then perhaps we would age much less
quickly here on earth too.
Could bodies which have evolved with processes of a certain ‘speed’ cope with
such changes? This would also involve the slowing down of our mental
(neurological) processes. That is, we would be both mentally slower
and physically slower – like human slugs! As a guess, I would say
that the human body couldn't cope with such changes. That's unless
technological processes which counteracted the negative side-effects
(as it were) could also be created.
Is
Consciousness Constituted by Physical Processes?
David
Chalmers asks an interesting
question:
“Is
consciousness constituted by physical processes, or does it merely
arise from physical processes?”
The
consensus position is that consciousness “arises” from physical
processes. At first blush, saying that “consciousness is
constituted by physical processes” appears to be a reductive
position. That is, if x in “constituted by” A, B
and C, then that
must surely mean the following:
If
x = A, B & C
then
x can also be reduced to A, B & C.
Nonetheless,
if one tackles this from another angle, consciousness can be
constituted by physical processes even though it it isn't identical to those processes. Thus, x is constituted by A,
B and C, though x is not identical to A,
B and C.
Here
is a simple example. A house in constituted by bricks and other
material objects. Though a house is not identical to the bricks and
material objects which constitute it.
This doesn't work for consciousness because there are things true of
consciousness which aren't true of brain/physical processes. Having
said that, there are things true of bricks and other objects (as well
as the sum of bricks and other objects) which aren't true of house
which was made out of them. Yet some would say that the house is
nothing “over and above” the bricks and other objects. Yes, in
physical terms that's correct. However, there are still things true
of the house which aren't true of the objects which “constitute
it” - and not even true of the sum of the objects which constitute
it. So, even though the house is entirely made of bricks and other
objects/materials, there are things true of the house which aren't
true of the things which constitute it (whether taken individually or
collectively).
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