[ExI] Digital Consciousness

[Gordon]

Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:


>>I am myself a programmer, by the way (C++). I can make computers do interesting things that appear conscious, but I don't suppose I could ever write a program that would make a computer actually >> conscious. That would require magic, like the magic that made Pinocchio come alive. What would the code look like? How do I write a "become conscious" function?


> This is an argument from ignorance: I can't do this, hence nobody else can.
> Here's the code: http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/download/getstd


How wonderful. Someone wrote some code that simulated a neuron. I've actually already done something like that (I just a few hours ago wrote about it to a fellow extrope in private email).

I don't pretend that my code actually caused my computer to have conscious experience. My digital computer is just an ordinary mechanical machine, not fundamentally different from my watch. My watch tells me the time, but I think it has no idea what time it is. Do you think it does?

Gordon
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