[ExI] Digital Consciousness

[Ben Zaiboc]

Gordon <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Back in about the 60s and 70s, the world became fascinated by the possibilities?of digital computers. Philosophers?of mind were not immune. A lot of them thought "Hey, maybe the brain is like a computer! Wouldn't that be cool? Let's build a philosophy of mind around this idea!" An entire new philosophy of mind was born. Extropian-minded people understandably liked the idea.?
>
>It was just a fad, in my opinion. Brains are not like digital computers. Brains are biological?organs, not fundamentally different from livers or kidneys.


How any times, Gordon?!

It doesn't matter that brains are not like digital computers!  The point is that digital computers can be like brains, not the other way round.  Do you really not see the difference?  Your argument that digital computers cannot implement brains because brains are not like digital computers makes as much sense as saying that clay cannot take the shape of boots because boots are not made of clay.

 Implementing a mind on a digital computer is independent of the computational theory of mind.  The theory could be false, it wouldn't invalidate the possiblity of having a computer run a mind.

Ben Zaiboc