[ExI] Meaningless Symbols

[Ben Zaiboc]

Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> My claim is that the complex program does not have anything
> at the moment it executes 
> 
> print "Hello World";
> 
> that the simple one-line program alone does not have.

Which is equivalent to saying that the brain does not have anything at the moment it executes [instruction to move leg] that a simple spinal reflex to move the leg does not have.

> 
> If anything is ridiculous, it's the notion that either the
> simple or the complex versions of the program will cause a
> conscious entity to pop into the world to say hello. 

And here we have the crux of the whole thing.  This 'conscious entity that pops into the world'.  What is that, exactly?

The ridiculous notion is that it makes sense to equate a single piece of gravel to the entire global network of roads, or a metal tube to a fleet of jumbo jets.  A simple circuit or it's equivalent as a program instruction doesn't have the potential for creating and maintaining complex models with complex relationships between them, but a few million of them working together do.  

Do you think that a spinal reflex loop is conscious?  Even a tiny bit?

Ben Zaiboc