[ExI] Bringing new life to dead matter

[The Avantguardian]

 ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com>
> To: The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com>; ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 6:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Bringing new life to dead matter
> 
> On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 7:34 PM, The Avantguardian
> <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> One possible way to define a "unit" of consciousness is through 
> an environmental sensory-behaviorial feedback loop. For example a simple 
> thermostat might be considered conscious in a rudimentary way: It senses the 
> temperature of it's environment and then turns on or off the HVAC system 
> accordingly. Computers sense and respond to their users unless one gives 
> them senses other than a keyboard, then they can be programmed to respond to 
> other stimuli. So I guess what I am asking is that if consiousness is *not* 
> information processing then what else might it be?
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> It's a wrinkle in the carpet that sometimes your toys get stuck and
> other times they don't and you can't quite explain why it is.
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Human brains glitch too for equally mysterious reasons. Why do people with OCD wash their hands every 10 minutes? But those glitches does not keep them from being functionally conscious or, in the case of Howard Hughes, successful. That being said, human consciousness has had a million years or so of natural selection to optimize the process, so don't lose your patience just yet.

Stuart LaForge


"Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it."  -Adlai Stevenson