[ExI] Zombie glutamate

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 23 February 2015 at 04:23, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 1:17 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> > Suppose there is a gross change in your consciousness as a result of the
>> > replacement. If you are conscious then you should notice and be able to
>> > report the change. But the replacement results in normal output to all of
>> > your brain, including the part that would notice a change and then send
>> > output to your speech centre. So if there is a change in your consciousness,
>> > the change will either go unnoticed or, if noticed, you will be unable to
>> > report it and will have to watch helplessly as your vocal cords say
>> > everything is normal.
>
>
> Then you would know from direct experience something about your
> consciousness that nobody else knows, namely that although the replacement
> part reproduces all the inputs and outputs that can be measured in the lab
> there must be at least one I/O that can't be measured; and you'd also have
> proof that consciousness is not a byproduct of intelligence and that
> Darwin's theory was wrong, but unfortunately that proof would be available
> only to you. But this is not a new situation, you don't need exotic thought
> experiments, in real everyday life you know things with a certainty that
> goes beyond mere proof about your consciousness, but although you know it's
> true you have no way to prove it to others with mathematical rigor.

What would happen if consciousness could be separated from behaviour
is that your brain would go in one direction, controlling your body,
while your mind would go off in another, as a helpless spectator. That
would mean consciousness is not due to physical activity in the brain,
contradicting the single initial assumption. If you grant that
assumption, then consciousness is provably what you call a byproduct
of intelligence.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou