[ExI] Digital Consciousness .

[Kelly Anderson]

On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 2:05 PM, Gordon <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > More to the point, how can you prove that human beings have
> intentionality?
>
> Strictly speaking, I cannot prove that you have intentionality, but you
> can prove it to yourself. Do you see the question mark at the end this
> sentence, and do you know that you see it? If so, you have it.
>

I seem to think I see it, but perhaps that is an illusion inside my head.
It is hard for me to pick apart.

So what other things in the world have it? I think probably all mammals do,
> based mainly on their biological similarities to humans. Perhaps some less
> complex organisms also have it, but I'm quite sure that no organism lacking
> a fairly well-developed nervous system has it.
>

What about a plant growing it's roots around a rock? Seems pretty
intentional when you speed it up a bunch.


> Does my computer have it? No, I seriously doubt that my computer is
> anything more than a blind, unconscious machine. It might act
> intelligently but it has no idea of its own existence, or of my existence,
> or of the existence of the things that I make it calculate about. What if I
> upgraded it? What if I had the most powerful processor imaginable, an
> infinite amount of ram, and so on? No, I don't think I could ever make my
> digital computer actually know what it is doing in the sense that you and I
> do.
>

You are confusing hardware with software. Your brain doesn't actually
experience consciousness or intelligence or intentionality on a hardware
basis, those things are experienced as software states. Can you say
definitively therefore that you can't run software that has the state of
consciousness? I don't feel comfortable with that assumption since my brain
is just a different kind of computer running a different sort of software.
It's all architectural differences.

If I say that the Parthenon has ineffable state A, but no other building
does, then does the copy of the Parthenon Nashville have ineffable state A
too?


> Someday a digital computer might pass the Turing test, and we will have
> created weak AI. But strong (conscious, intentional) AI is a completely
> different challenge. We might someday create strong AI in the sense that I
> mean, but I don't believe it will happen on digital software/hardware
> platforms. It will involve biology.
>

I really don't see the difference Gordon. But perhaps it is just a matter
of opinion. You are not a troll for thinking this way, but I do think you
are wrong. :-)

-Kelly
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