(urth) S&S vs. SF in BotNS

[David Stockhoff]

On 12/22/2011 5:56 PM, David Duffy wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Dec 2011, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>
>> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>>> I don't think Wolfe talks much about souls as such.  I'm not sure we 
>>> can flatly state that he is postulating that they are an entirely 
>>> separate thing from the mind and its connection to the universe.
>>
>> ...but I think that talking about Lupine fiction, and _especially_ the
>> Briah cycle, without seeing souls everywhere, is akin to Dr. Crane's
>> explanation of Silk's enlightenment as a cerebral accident.
>
> It's pretty clear (to me at least) that Wolfe is very interested in 
> souls, and how they can be consistent with modern neuroscience and 
> "strong AI". That is, answering questions like
>
> If there is an immortal soul that underlies our personality and 
> cognition, what happens to it when a brain injury causes a permanent 
> change in personality or thinking?  What qualities persist despite 
> drastic changes in the personality and thinking?
>
> In split brain experiments, with competing sources of intentionality, 
> are there one or two souls?
>
> If there are multiple souls present in the same individual (eg demonic 
> possession, multiple personality disorder), how do they interact?  Can 
> they merge?
>
> If sufficiently advanced technology can replicate minds, are there 
> associated souls, and are they copies of the original?
>
> If sufficiently advanced technology can design, control, engineer 
> minds, what happens to the soul?
>
> Wolfe has played with various answers to all these questions in 
> different stories.  Broadly, his type of soul continues to make 
> choices in those domains where it is free to do so, but those domains 
> might be extremely narrowed eg Piaton [who is possessed, in every 
> sense], Sand [who cannot choose to reject orders, but can think freely 
> about other matters].

Also the replication of bodies via cloning.