[ExI] Newbie Question: Consciousness and Intelligence

Gordon Swobe gts_2000 at yahoo.com
Mon Feb 15 00:46:53 UTC 2010


--- On Sat, 2/13/10, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:

>> It is true that I "project" consciousness onto other
>> humans but I don't do this based solely on their ability to
>> pass the Turing test or on their interactions with me. As
>> above, I do it based also on their physiology.
> 
> If the ghost of one's wife, or her upload on a digital
> computer, manages to persuade somebody that she is his wife, one will
> identify her as his wife, irrespective of the physiology, if any,

It seems to me a digital simulation of a person, i.e., an upload existent on a computer, will have no more reality than does a digital movie of that person on a computer today. Depictions of things, digital or otherwise, do not equal the things they depict no matter how complete and realistic the depiction.

This does not preclude the possibility that a complete digital description of a person might serve as a reliable blueprint for reconstructing that person in material form, but I see that as a separate question. 

> Sure, somebody may refuse his conclusion for philosophical
> and ultimately arbitrary reasons

Come the singularity, some people will lose their grips on reality and find themselves believing such absurdities as that digital depictions of people have real mental states. A few lonely philosophers of my stripe will try in vain to restore their sanity. :)

-gts


      



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