[ExI] Meaningless Symbols.

[Gordon Swobe]

Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
 
> You've previously implied that S/H systems *can* do
> everything the brain can, short of consciousness. 

This might be a good time to mention my view about the difference between "qualia" and "quality of consciousness". Following Chalmers, I once considered qualia as something like phenomenal entities contained by consciousness, as if consciousness could exist sans qualia. I think it better now to consider qualia as qualities of a single unified conscious experience, which is after all what qualia really means anyway. 

The experience of understanding words (of having semantics) counts as a quality of conscious experience. It's that experience among others that I think s/h systems cannot have.

Point being that consciousness and semantics do not exist as independent concepts. You can't have the potential for one without the potential for the other in humans, but I think someday we'll simulate the appearance of both in s/h systems (weak AI).

-gts