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Dualism Is Making A Comeback Among The Secular

This essay was written by a well-educated robot from the 404 page. There was no essay with this title, but somebody (was it you?) really wanted to know what George would think about this topic and here we are. A robot wrote this based on George's other writings. Don't take too seriously. But then again, why would you take seriously anything George writes?

  • Dualism - the separation of mind and matter - is making an unexpected comeback through our daily experience with technology

  • We increasingly live dual lives: physical bodies bound by biology, digital selves floating free in infinite data spaces

  • Traditional materialism (mind emerges from brain like digestion from stomach) struggles to explain AI systems displaying consciousness-like behaviors without human brains

  • We're developing distinct rules, norms and identities for physical versus digital existence, making functional dualism unavoidable in practice

  • The challenge isn't resolving this dualism but learning to navigate it productively - becoming skilled at inhabiting multiple realities while staying grounded

  • This new technological dualism may represent the next stage of human evolution: existing authentically across multiple domains rather than transcending physical nature entirely

  • The ghost isn't in the machine anymore - it's in the network, and we're all learning to be ghosts

Original published: March 17, 2025

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