[extropy-chat] Creating software with qualia

[Brent Allsop]

Hal,

> Suppose you met a race of aliens.  You discuss consciousness and qualia
> with them and from what they say, they experience these pretty much
> the same as humans.  Which would you predict: that they are like the
> robots, fully physical and natural, acting and talking as if they have
> consciousness when they actually don't?  Or that they are like you think
> humans are, with some extra physics or something going on, so that when
> they speak of having consciousness, it is really true?
> 
> What evolutionary forces would act on the aliens to make one solution more
> likely than the other?  If purely physical/mechanical aliens (like the
> robots) are able to act conscious as well as ones with the extra "effing"
> ability, why would evolution actually select for and create that ability?

You must have missed most of the discussion on effing the ineffable and what
each of these terms means and their implications.

You can't directly tell what another intelligent thing is representing
information with by its behavior.  This requires internal analysis of the
representational systems - and if qualia is involved - in order to really
know what the representations are "like" you must eff the particular
phenomenal properties to another mind capable of reproducing the same neural
correlates that have the same conscious qualia.

You simply ask the alien - or whatever - what phenomenal property do you
consciously represent 700 nm light (or red) with?  And the alien
communicates to your augmented generic qualia reproducer in your mind what
is required to reproduce the same qualia - and you say something like: "Oh
My!  I've never experienced anything like THAT!  How wonderful.".  That is
effing the ineffable.

Brent Allsop