Singularity of the soul and the myth of consciousness

Okay, I’ve laid a bit of groundwork for this with my last few blogs, and now I’m going to talk about something they do say you never should: my religion. It’s not something I talk about much, and indeed, I’m probably known for avoiding the subject. That’s because it tends to be a sticky and involved conversation if I address it fairly. Curiously, this does actually have consequences for free software. Richard Stallman likes to talk about the ethical reasons for writing it; Eric Raymond likes to talk about the pragmatic reasons; but here I intend to address a spiritual reason for doing so.

It’s well-known that the way that people choose to appear online is distinct from physical appearance, and this is often perceived as some kind of falsehood. But honestly, for someone you’ve never met, which is their “real” face? And do you learn more from a photograph or an avatar? This is my first departure from “pragmatic” ideas into somewhat more “spiritual” territory, which I plan to follow up for a few weeks. I hope to explore some of the human side of online interaction, since that’s how most free software gets made.

The cyborg