[ExI] Semiotics and Computability

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Wed, 2/17/10, Christopher Luebcke <cluebcke at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I don't see how adding a knowledge of anatomy moves our
> position from speculation to certainty. 

If I want to know if you have blood pumping through your veins, it helps me to know if you have a heart in your chest. Similarly, if I want to know if you have subjective mental states, it helps me to know if you have a brain in your head. 

But even then the sceptics will have room to doubt. Some philosophers abandon common sense and dive deep down into the sceptic's rabbit hole such that they doubt even their own existence. Funny thing is that they take the time to try to convince others to do the same. I don't know who they think they are or who they hope to convince.

>> Conversely, does a system with a "brain and nervous system"
>> necessarily have consciousness, even in the
>> absence of "behaviors and reports of subjective
>> experience"?
>> 
>> If you have a brain and a nervous system but exhibit
>> no associated behaviors then it seems to me that you have some serious
>> neurologoical issues. 
> 
> Doubtless, but you didn't answer the question.

Sorry I only implied the answer: if you have a brain and nervous sytem but no behaviors or reports (including self-reports) of subjective experience then you have serious neurological issues meaning that you effectively do not have a healthy brain and nervous system in the first place. 

-gts