[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet

[gts]

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 15:52:44 -0500, Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net>  
wrote:

>> The answer to Chalmers' question is "Nobody knows." I suppose we should
>> just leave it at that.
>
> It may indeed be wise to "just leave it at that" with regard to email
> discussion, but in the larger context of increasing scientific
> knowledge it's a puzzle worth solving because this understanding
> creates a new bridge toward greater understanding.

I'm glad to see you appreciate the problem, Jef. I was thinking perhaps  
it's time to put this thread to bed, but I agree it is an extremely  
important question, with relevance to strong AI.

Can we build machines capable of real subjective emotion and experience?  
Or are we limited to building nothing more than glorified unconscious  
calculators with only the outward appearance of consciousness?

What is the trick to making matter become aware? Or is all matter already  
fundamentally aware as I speculate?

> There is a simple and obvious answer to Chalmers' "hard problem", but
> it is so non-intuitive, and so lacking support within the culture and
> the language that many people just can't widen back enough to resolve
> the apparent paradox.

I'm listening.


-gts