[extropy-chat] Fragmentation of computations

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 3/27/07, Russell Wallace <russell.wallace at gmail.com> wrote:

To have a conversation with Rock Man, you would have to build a "decoding
> device" that actually contains all the information in Rock Man's mind. It is
> then obvious to any reasonable person that Rock Man's consciousness resides
> in the "decoding device", not in the rock.
>

The decoding device allows an external observer to communicate with Rock
Man. But what test of consciousness do you use in the case of inputless
machines, dreaming away on their own? For example, if you found an alien
computer which was a self-contained inputless AI, but its designers and
design specifications were all long vanished, would it be any less conscious
because you couldn't talk to it? If it had I/O devices no matter how obscure
its design with assiduous testing you could eventually determine what it was
up to, but you would have no chance without this.

Stathis Papaioannou
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