[ExI] Digital Consciousness .

spike spike at rainier66.com
Thu Apr 25 04:21:47 UTC 2013


>... On Behalf Of Stathis Papaioannou
Subject: Re: [ExI] Digital Consciousness .

On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 2:11 AM, Brent Allsop <brent.allsop at canonizer.com> wrote:

> Oh and Stathis said:
>
> <<<<
>> There is an argument from David Chalmers which proves that computers 
> can be conscious assuming only that (a) consciousness is due to the 
> brain and (b) the observable behaviour of the brain is computable.....

>...The paper cited has nothing to do with the "Hard Problem" or the possibility of sharing experiences. It is just a proof that computers can be conscious. -- Stathis Papaioannou
___________________________________________

Not sure who wrote what above, apologies.

We may be getting unnecessarily tripped over defining consciousness.  I am ready to concede Gordon's point that digital sims cannot be conscious in the same sense that bio-systems are, but I am really looking at the other bifurcation.  We may not need consciousness for a singularity to occur and create a simulation in which we might continue our existence.  We might be able to at least feel like we are conscious in there.

A chess program is not conscious, but it creates some gooooorgeous combinations that feel like an iron fist reached out of the computer and grabbed you by the ass.  Perhaps we are too quick to insist that computer intelligence must follow the same path as humans have.  But I can imagine computers getting to the point where they are designing the next generation of computers and then uploading itself onto that next generation, then rewriting itself, etc, then carrying along simulations of its humans and all that, entirely without humanlike consciousness.

Damn that concept is a mind-blower.

spike





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