[extropy-chat] Consciousness is a process in multi-dimensional time! [Was: Qualia Bet]

[gts]

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:28:26 -0500, Marc Geddes <marc.geddes at gmail.com>  
wrote:

>> For your argument about aliens to work here, I think you would be forced
>> to say that these aliens with brains wired differently from ours might  
>> not only see 'green' as 'red' but also see '5' as '3'. In that case I  
>> would
>> say you are not referring to platonic ideas. If 5 exists objectively in  
>> a platonic sense then it is perceivable by all intelligent beings in the
>> universe. In fact the SETI project works more or less on this  
>> assumption.
>
>
> Not what I said.  Green is green.  All I said is that the property  
> 'Green' is not a primary property of physical objects.

But isn't '5' a primary quality of groups of things of which there are  
five? And are you not trying to give color the same ontological status as  
number? Why not call them both primary, and ignore the supposed  
philosophical truth that secondary qualities exist only in observation and  
thus cannot be primary? After all if there were no observers in the  
universe then we would not be here discussing this problem.

I'm trying to see the bridge between numbers and colors. One way to do  
that is to objectify colors in the same way we do platonic ideas like  
"five-ness".

I would say that your aliens who see green where we see red must have  
dysfunctional color perception. If I say otherwise, and if I equate  
numbers with colors, then I must admit they would not be wrong to see '3'  
where I see '5'.

-gts