[ExI] Meaningless Symbols.

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Sat, 1/16/10, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:

>> You keep assigning absolute atomic status to neurons
>> and their behaviors, forgetting that just as the brain is
>> made of neurons, neurons are made of objects too. Those
>> intra-neuronal objects have as much right to claim atomic
>> status as does the neuron, and larger inter-neuronal
>> structures can also make that claim.
> 
> Everything I've said applies equally well if you consider
> simulating the behaviour of subneuronal or multineuronal structures.
> Neurons are just a convenient unit to work with.

If you really thought so then you would consider the brain as the atomic unit. This seems to me the only sensible approach given our limited knowledge of actual neuroscience. But it looks as you prefer to draw conclusions from extremely speculative predictions about the experiences and behaviors of partial brain-replacement frankenstein monsters. It just misses the point. 

Either the brain is a computer or it's not, and we can know the answer without torturing anyone in the hospital with crazy experiments. You don't yet see this, and I accept the blame for wasting so much time on the fun.

PS. Not enough time for me to answer messages the way I would like. Frustrating because I do enjoy the discussion. Just a busy thread going on here now along with a busier life. 

-gts