[ExI] digital simulations, descriptions and copies

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 23 January 2010 01:41, Gordon Swobe <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- On Thu, 1/21/10, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> To say "there is no logical pathway from a lump of
>>> matter to meaning" is equivalent to saying that mind and
>>> matter exist in separate realms. It seems then that you
>>> really do want to espouse the mind/matter dualism handed
>>> down to us from Descartes.
>>
>> I'm saying this to show where your assertion that syntax
>> can't produce meaning leads.
>
> My assertion leads simply to a philosophy of mind in which the brain attaches meanings to symbols in some way that we do not yet fully understand. Nothing more.

But this is unnecessary, at best. You could say we do understand how
meaning is attached to symbols when they are finally attached to an
environmental input. Only if you really *want* the brain to remain
mysterious would you add the superfluous magical layer.

> In the next step of our journey we must decide between monism and not-monism (usually dualism). I choose monism.
>
> Looks to me like the world is comprised of just one kind of stuff. Some configurations of that one stuff have conscious understanding of symbols. Most if not all other configurations of that stuff do not.

Yes, but the claim that it is impossible for matter other than that in
brains to produce consciousness is irrational. It may turn out that
electronic circuits can't do it but that is a matter for scientific
research; you have no *proof* that it is so, even if you keep your
other claim that programs can't do it.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou