[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet.

[Brent Allsop]

gts:

> On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 13:23:55 -0500, Brent Allsop <allsop at extropy.org>
> wrote:
> 
> >  The proof is in the effing!  The ultimate absolute proof will
> > eventually come when we join our minds together into grand unified
> > conscious worlds (spirit worlds if you will) made of shared phenomenal
> > properties.
> 
> And you expect this to happen within ten years? I'll take that bet. :)

Oh no, I never said all that will happen by 10 years.  I am only arguing
that in 10 years we will have enough effing to say that whenever a
particular causally observed neural correlate occurs in a brain the person
will always say: "Yes, that is red."  And a bit latter to perhaps have
something like the first blind person that was blind since birth finally
say: "Oh THAT is what red is like".  Just enough physical evidence so that
people commonly accept that there are phenomenal properties and so on.

Then these discoveries and achievements will finally enable us to realize
what is possible and cause us to embark on the goal of creating and
redesigning our brains into grand unified phenomenal spirit worlds, full of
our individual spirits and much more, which will of course take a bit
longer.  But certainly all this will happen before the Singularity which
Kurzweil is arguing will happen around 2050.

Another prediction of mine is that before 10 years from know a common
popular phrase will develop something like: "Don't pull a Kurzweil on me!"
for any time you are talking to a very smart person that is blindly missing
something that should be blatantly obvious.  (He is obviously so brilliant
and can see so much about the future, but he has no clue about phenomenal
properties, their significance, and the Turing test stupidly always plays a
big part of his talk about the future.)

But of course, as with all "theories" they are just that.  Until we have the
demonstrable effing proof, I could be the one that is mistaken as I'm sure
many of you agree I am.  And that is what makes it all so fun (and
potentially profitable if anyone will take me up on my bet!)

Brent Allsop