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\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Silicon Reflections
\par }\pard\plain \qc \li0\ri0\sl360\slmult1\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\loch\af118\hich\af118\dbch\af11\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b\insrsid7541584 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Clark Glymour}{\cs16\b\fs16\up6\insrsid7541584 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s17\ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 
\fs20\lang1033\langfe1033\loch\af118\hich\af118\dbch\af11\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\cs16\fs16\up6\insrsid7541584 \chftn }{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  This paper, prompted by John Searle\hich\f118 \rquote \loch\f118 s }{
\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Minds, Brains and Science}{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ,  was originally about Searleans  rather than Dretskeans, and is based on an after dinner\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 
 talk at the North Carolina Conference. I sent a copy to Professor Searle shortly after the appearance of his }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Mind's, Brains and Science}{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 
 (Harvard University Press, 1984). He replied, in a rather angry tone,  that I had completely misunderstood him. Since h\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 
e took such great offense, I did not publish the essay. Now, however, Professor Searle has published  the idea without attribution, and it seems proper that at least one of his sources should appear in print. As for Dretske, I think the evolutionalry func
\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 t\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ionism in Naturalizing the Mind warrants the attributions here, but why offend only one distinguished philosopher when, by a change of name, two can be?}}}{\b\insrsid7541584 
\par }\pard \qj \li0\ri0\sl360\slmult1\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {\insrsid7541584 
\par 
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\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I am in a quandary, and I am increasingly certain there is no escape. 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Philosophy and my health h\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ave conspired to leave me only dreadful
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 alternatives. It is futile, I am sure, even to state my difficulties,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as though some reader might see the true and correct path through
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 my plight. Still, the illusion consoles me, and so I will tell my story.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 It all\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  began in the 1980's, nearly three decades ago now, with certain
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 advances in artificial limbs. Not, of course, that I have an artificial
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 limb, but that is where it began. In earlier years those unfortunates
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 who had lost a hand or leg or arm had the part replaced by a mechanical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 device which could support the body or which could be mechanically manipulated
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to grasp and hold. But by the middle of the 1980's neurosurgeons and
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 artificial limb makers had found way\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 s to connect artificial limbs to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the sensory and motor nerves of the stump. The limbs were able to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 respond to pressure and communicate the stimulus, by electrical means,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to the nerve cell membrane of sensory nerves. Similarly, the limbs
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 were able to detect\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  and respond appropriately to increases in the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 concentrations of neurotransmitter chemicals in the motor nerves.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Through these ingenious mechanisms, those with artificial limbs
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 were enabled to feel pressure and to move their limbs much as
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 they had before d\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ismemberment.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Now it happened that at the same time there was formed a Society of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Dretskeans, both in the United States and in England, whose members
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 vehemently, and even violently, opposed the use of "neuro-prosthetics",
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as these ingenious artificial lim\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 bs were called. The members of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the Society took as their guide a then newly appeared book by an
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 eminent philosopher. Unfortunately, they took the author's sensible views to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 logical extremes, with consequent miseries that I am about to describe.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 According t\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 o their reading of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  this philosophical work, mechanical devices, no matter how
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ingeniously contrived to imitate human behavior, cannot have mental
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 states. Mechanical devices such as computers cannot feel, think, see
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 or hear or wish or understand. They cann\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ot be conscious, even if they
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 act as if they are. Only brains and nervous systems such as those in
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 humans, or something with equivalent causal powers (which mechanical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 devices are not) can have mental states. Machines have syntax; only
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 brains, or objects with equivalent causal powers, have semantics.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 This doctrine alone might not have caused so much trouble, were it not
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 for another of the philosopher's doctrines which the members of the society also
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 took to a logical extreme. This second\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  doctrine is that mental properties
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 are not properties of individual cells of the brain, or even of a few
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 cells together, but rather properties of the brain as a whole. Now
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the original members of the Dretskean Society reasoned this way: The
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 nervous system\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  is but an extension of the brain, and mental properties
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 are really therefore properties of the nervous system as a whole. But
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 if the whole is changed by replacing a part of it with a mechanical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 device, then the nervous system as a whole is not the same as\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  it was
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 before the replacement. If even a part of the nervous system is replaced
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 by a mechanical device, they concluded, the whole of the nervous
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 system must be affected, and lose its power to produce mental states.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The Dretskeans formed the conviction th\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 at those who had neuro-prosthetics
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 attached to their nervous systems thereby lost all powers of consciousness,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of thought, reflection and feeling. It did no good to plead with the Dretskeans
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 that their reasoning was specious, or to say that since the great\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 er part
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of the nervous system and all of the higher cortex was left intact, 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 those with neuro-prosthetics still have thoughts and feelings. The Dretskeans
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 insisted that anything with such an appendage was part machine and part
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 human tissue, and they pointe\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 d to passages in the philosopher's book
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 that argued that even a complete human within a machine need not make
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 altogether a system that understands and feels, even if it acts as if
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 it does.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Nor did it avail to point out to them the passages from the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 esteemed philosopher's writings with which I have begun this lament.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The Dretskeans took such stuff to be mere temporizing done for the sake
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of disputing critics, and they would have none of it. 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 To those who turned the texts against them, and claimed that\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  the humanity
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of neuro-prosthetes is a testable, empirical issue, the Dretskeans rejoined
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 with a question that proved rhetorical: what test would decide? Turing's
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 famous test, they insisted, was refuted by the philosopher's parable
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of the Chinese speaking \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 box. The helplessness of sensible men and women
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in the face of this curious challenge only strengthened the Dretskeans
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in their prejudices. Many vainly tried to impress upon the Dretskeans
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 their philosopher's insistence upon the first-person point of view.\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  With
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 typical casuistry, the members of the Society claimed that each of us
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 could only engage himself, and not any other, from that distinguished 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 point of view. Only analogy and philosophy could decide whether other
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 things have minds, they claimed, and th\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 eir philosophical conclusion was
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 that humans with neuro-electronic legs no more have mental states than
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 would thermostats fitted with biological arms.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I suppose that the course of action the Dretskeans undertook was understandable
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 given the firmness of th\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 eir convictions, but it was undeniably regrettable.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The members of the Society took to bombing factories that manufactued
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 neuro-prosthetics, and performing armed raids on hospitals to prevent the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 implantation of the devices. The Dretskeans would stop at no\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 thing to prevent
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the attachment of neuro-prosthetics, and their slogan was everywhere:
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 "Neuro-prosthesis is murder!"  What was still worse, once a neuro-prosthetic
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 had been attached to some poor soul, the Dretskeans ceased to treat him
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as a fellow human, or as a sentient creature at all. Dretskeans created
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 great carnage by refusing to stop their automobiles when meeting pedestrians
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in crosswalks who sported artificial limbs. They kidnapped former cripples
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as soon as they received an impl\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ant, and held them in slavery.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The outrages of the Dretskeans finally provoked the wrath of every 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 sensible citizen. The Society was outlawed, and most of its members
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 captured and imprisoned, despite their insistence that they had done
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 no injury to person\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  or property in killing and kidnapping the handicapped.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The Society effectively vanished, although it is rumored that to this
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 day a few adherents to the original Dretskean doctrine still live in 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 isolation in the State of Utah.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 But Dretskeanism is a vital\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  doctrine, and not easily eliminated. No sooner
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 had the Society of Dretskeans been destroyed than a new and more
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 influential body sprang up, the Reformed Society of Dretskeans. The
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 members of the Reformed Society held that the orginal Dretskeans had
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 misint\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 erpreted and distorted the doctrine by confusing the essential
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 parts of the brain responsible for consciousness, thought and feeling
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 with the nervous system as a whole. The original Dretskean doctrine was
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 correct, they held, but not for the nervous system \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as a whole, only
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 for the cerebral cortex. The optic nerve and other nerve tracts from
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the brain to the periphery could be replaced by whatever mechanical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 devices might serve, without affecting the power of the cortex to 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 produce thought and feeling.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 And h\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ere, at last, is where my personal woes began. I suffer a curious
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and progressive disease, characterized by the softening and eventual
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 death of parts of my cerebral cortex. Because of my disorder, which
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 is uncommon but not unique, and because neurophysiology during my
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 lifetime has made dramatic advances, I have served as a kind of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 neurological guinea pig. If you will forgive a macabre pun, it is
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 because of my condition that I have lived on the cutting edg\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 e of 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 neuro-science. The philosophical author whose writings and radio talks
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 inspired the Dretskean movement assured us that with the advance of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 neuro-science, the mysteries of intentionality and of consciousness
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 would be revealed. Alas, it has not turned \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 out that way, and neuro-
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 science has left me, in particular, with the most awesome and dreadful
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 puzzle.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The first notice I had of my disorder was an inability to feel a pin
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 or other sharp object when it was stuck into my left thumb. Rejecting
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the diagnosi\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 s of my psychoanalyst (it was, he claimed, an hysterical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 anesthesia), I consulted a neurologist, who after many elaborate
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 tests informed me that a small part of my cerebral cortex, merely a few
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 connected cells, had perished. The function of these cells, he\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  explained,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 was to receive signals indicating prickle sensations from my left thumb.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Along with the news, he offered me a remarkable prospect. There had 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 recently been developed a device which he termed a "cortical patch",
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 about which I had never before he\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ard. Through micro-surgical techniques,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the neurologist explained, the now defunct cells of my cortex could be
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 removed and replaced with an electronic and chemical device which would
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 act in their stead. The fine termini of the device would be connected
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 all of the living cells to which my dead cortical cells were attached
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 at synaptic junctions. Certain ends of the cortical patch would be attached
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to long nerve fibres ending in the cortex and connected to my left thumb.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 These ends of the cortical patch would detect an increase in the concentration
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of certain chemicals, principally acetylcholine, associated with the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 transmission of nervous impulses. The cortical patch would then change
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the electrical polarity of the end at\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 tached to the nerve fiber. Other
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ends of the cortical patch would be attached to synaptic junctions with
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 healthy cortical cells, the same cells to which my dead cortical cells
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 were attached. When one end of the cortical patch detected an increase
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in chemic\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 al transmitters at the end of the nerve fibre, the other
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 termini of the patch, attached to the cortical cells, would stimulate
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the membranes of these cells, exactly as the deceased cells had done
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 when they were living and healthy. The result would be that \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I would
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 once again feel prickles in my left thumb. Because the procedure
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 was experimental, my neurologist assured me, the replacement would
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 be performed free of charge.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I am not sure whether it was fascination, curiosity, or vanity that
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 drove me, but I ac\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 cepted the offer. I wish now that I had not, but the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 past cannot be changed. News of the surgery somehow got out, and much
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to my discomfort I became the subject of a great deal of popular discussion,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 much of it fueled by the speculations of the Reformed Dr\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 etskeans.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Almost unanimously, the Reformed
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Dretskeans held that the surgery would not work at all.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 When the cortical patch was in place, I still would not feel any prickle
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in my thumb, and I would say as much, or so they claimed. The neuro-scientists
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 confi\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 dently predicted that I would feel a prickle, and would say so.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 As it turned out, the neuro-scientists were right. After I awoke from
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the surgery, a nurse stuck a needle in my left thumb and I yelped.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 That yelp shook apart the Reformed Society of Dretskean\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 s.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Some of the Dretskeans maintained that although I }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 said}{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  I felt a
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 pain, saying as much was only an aspect of }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 acting as if}{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  I had a pain.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 But if the neuro-surgeons had their wiring correctly done, the argument 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 continued, I should certainly act as if I had a pain, even though
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I didn't have one. The Dretskeans paid me a visit after my release from the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 hospital, and presented me with this argument. To which I responded
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 that I knew what a prickle pain felt like beca\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 use my other cortical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 cells had been working fine, and I knew what my left thumb felt like,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 because I had continually been sensitve to heat and aches in my left
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 thumb. So if I heard myself saying "I feel a prickle pain in my left
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 thumb" when in fact I didn\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 't }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 feel }{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  anything like a prickle pain
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in my left thumb, I would certainly know that something was amiss,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and I did not know any such thing. 
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The Dretskeans withdrew and divided into three camps. The Radical 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Dretskeans maintained that since my surgery I n\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 o longer
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 had @i(any) mental properties. I and other Dretskeans regarded this
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 opinion as a revival of the doctrines of the original Society of
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Dretskeans, and promptly obtained the intervention of the police.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The Radical Dretskeans fled to Utah, where they \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 hide, few in number
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and ineffective. The Fictive Dretskeans sought to remain true to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 their philosophical author's doctrine by means of a curious 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 casuistry. They held that I had mental states, consciousness, thoughts
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and beliefs. But, they continued, I did\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  not have any feeling of 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of prickle pains in my left thumb. I merely thought I had such feelings.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 My conviction was sincere, they claimed, and could move me to act
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 just as if I really had a prickle pain, but I didn't and couldn't.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Finally, the Holistic Dretskeans maintained that I really did have
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 a prickle pain, and I was pleased to learn of their conclusion.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Almost exactly reversing the reasoning
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 of the original Society of Dretskeans, they argued that I had the pain
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 because conscio\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 usness and pain
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and other mental states are properties of the whole cerebral cortex,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and as long as some part of my cerebral cortex was intact it sufficed
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to cause the appropriate mental states when I was in the appropriate
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 functional states. So long as a \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 good bit of my cortex was attached
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to the cortical patches, and so long as the cortical patches bore the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 same input and output relations to one another as did the cells
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 they replaced, I would have thoughts and pains and pleasures just
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 as before.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I myself \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 found the doctrines of the Fictive Dretskeans perverse and
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 repugnant, insofar as I could understand them at all. Still, their
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 doctrine, and the Society of Fictive Dretskeans, endured and is with
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 us today. I found far more plausible the views of the Holisti\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 c
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Dretskeans, so much that I began to attend their meetings, and they
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 began to think of me as a convert. I was never that. But sane men
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 live by possibilities, and their doctrine is surely possible.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 The cortical patch entirely relieved the difficulties wit\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 h my left thumb,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and after me many others had small cortical patches inserted. But
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the patch did not stop my illness. Only a few years after my surgery
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 another behavioral difficulty arose, the details of which I shall
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 not embarass myself with in print. Aga\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 in, the neurologists diagnosed
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 a softening of a part of the cortex, in this case cells some of 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 which were connected with the cortical patch, although
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 my physicians assured me that the cortical patch was not responsible.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Another cortical patch was recommended, to be connected partly to the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 old cortical patch and partly to other cortical cells connected to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the cells of my cortex which had ceased to function properly. The
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 second patch was duly installed, as sucessfully as th\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 e first. To
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 all appearances, so long as I wore my hat upon my head, I was 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 perfectly normal. What's more, I }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 felt }{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 perfectly normal.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Unfortunately, the deterioration of my cortical cells accelerated.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 With increasing frequency, new cortical patches had to be\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  inserted,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 replacing more and more of my natural substance. I am now convinced
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 that the introduction of the first cortical patch accelerated
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the softening of my brain tissues, and that in all probability
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 had I learned to live with a left thumb that could n\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ot feel prickles,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I would have suffered no further loss of function. In any case,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 the succession of cortical patches all worked as they should, and
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I am able to think and feel and sleep much as I did before.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 I have now only a middling piece of cerebral co\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 rtex left, and my
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 neurosurgeons tell me it must go. It is a quite central piece, and
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 when it softens I will find myself with only the capacities of an
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 idiot, a prospect I cannot endure. They have readied a final cortical
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 patch to replace it, and if I let t\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 he surgery go on, they assure
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 me that while my higher cortex will have been entirely replaced with
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 bits of silicon and germanium and whatnot, all of the functional
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 relations of the original cortex will be preserved. I will think
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and feel and remember like \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 any ordinary person; like myself, in fact.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 But now the doctrines of the Fictive and Holistic Dretskeans have
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 converged, and except among neurosurgeons are almost universal, 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 for when and if I have the final patch implanted both
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Societies will concur in their judgement of me: I will be
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 without thought or reflection, without any higher mental states.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Nothing I say or do will redeem me, any more than saying and doing
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 would make them believe a digital computer thinks.
\par 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 Of course I am\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  frightened of their power and influence, just as 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 some thirty years ago the recipients of neuro-prosthetics were 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 frightened of the original Society of Dretskeans. But my agony is
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 deeper than mere fright at my treatment after surgery; it is an agony
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 about\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  whether there will be an I to be treated, and about the
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 unspeakable solitude I will endure if there is. The Dretskean Societies
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 are very influential, and they clamor to outlaw the procedure to
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 which I am to be subjected. I will surely be the first person \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 to have
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 a cortex of silicon, and whatever the outcome of my surgery, I will
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 very likely also be the last. If the Dretskeans
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 are wrong, (and surely, in my case, the Fictive Dretskeans }{\i\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 must}{\insrsid7541584 \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118  be
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 wrong, for how could I only think I think?) then should I survive
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 my surgery I will remain. But no one will know of my sentience except myself,
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 and no one could know of it save another like me, and there will be none.
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 And if the Dretskeans are correct, and I cease to exist and am replaced by
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 a mindless automaton that ac\hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 ts as I do, then no one at all will know it, 
\par \hich\af118\dbch\af11\loch\f118 although many will believe themselves to know it.
\par 
\par \tab \tab \tab \tab 
\par }}