[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet.

[John K Clark]

"gts" <gts_2000 at yahoo.com>

>  experiments have shown that people pull their  hands away
> from intense heat, such as that from a hot stove, a fraction of
 > a second before they become aware of the heat qualia.

Yes so I've heard, but for simple reflexes like that where speed is all
important the command to pull away may not even come from the brain but from
the spinal cord, rather like the knee jerk reaction.

> the fact that evolution produced aware organisms capable  of experiencing
> qualia does not "completely close the book" on the  possibility that it
> might have done otherwise.

I think the Evolutionary record proves that conscious intelligence is easier
to make than unconscious intelligence. I would go further, the fact that
genetic drift has not eliminated consciousness (at least in my case, I don't
know about you) would seem to indicate that unconscious intelligence is not
just difficult but downright imposable.

   John K Clark