[ExI] [Exl] Digital Consciousness

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 5:02 PM, Gordon <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> If the brain were really like a digital computer then sure, we could
>>> create
>>> brains on digital computers. We could even make them out of pecking
>>> pigeons.
>>> Anything comparable to on/off switches would work.
>
>> And the atoms which give rise to real minds do not follow syntactic
>> rules?
>
> We want to think they do, but we are assigning that to the physics.
> Computational states are not actually discovered within the physics of the
> brain. We assign them to the physics.

The matter in the brain follows rigid, mechanistic rules. The same
rules that the matter in computers follows. You claim that mind comes
out of the matter in the brain, but it is impossible for mind to come
out of the matter in a computer. How can you be so sure about this?
What is the special spark in the brain that is lacking in other
collections of matter? How can we add this special spark to a
television or a tree, say, to give it a mind? Would it be easier with
an old fashioned analogue TV than with the newer digital ones?


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou