[ExI] Do digital computers feel was Re: Is the wave function real?

[Jason Resch]

On Friday, December 30, 2016, Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 6:25 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','stathisp at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On 30 December 2016 at 17:41, Rafal Smigrodzki <
>> rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com
>> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 11:33 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <
>>> stathisp at gmail.com <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','stathisp at gmail.com');>>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Here's another way to look at it. Suppose your brain contained
>>>> identical parallel circuits A and B, tied together at input and output,
>>>> which could be switched on and off independently of each other. It would be
>>>> difficult to do with biological tissue due to chaotic internal processes
>>>> but more straightforward if you consider a digital implant. Obviously, if
>>>> you switch A and B off together you will lose all the functionality of the
>>>> circuitry. But if you switch off either A or B, you will notice no change.
>>>>
>>>
>>> ### Let's say the A/B circuits run all the way from a simulation of your
>>> spinal cord sensory areas, such as the substantia gelatinosa, all the way
>>> to the frontal lobe cortical areas involved in attaching an affective
>>> valence to sensory stimuli (cingulate cortex, DLPF and others). We simulate
>>> the neural processes of you being slowly burned alive, separately in
>>> circuit A and in circuit B, and route the identical output to the rest of
>>> the brain. Obviously, the other parts of the brain, involved in e.g.
>>> producing screams and generating a memory of pain, will not scream twice as
>>> loud, or remember twice the pain. Yet, a process sufficient to produce the
>>> experience of pain ran twice. Are you sure you know how much pain was
>>> actually experienced by the system as a whole (A+B+ the rest of you)?
>>> Please note that the observable results of the experiment (loud screaming)
>>> would be the same no matter whether A/B are digital or analog.
>>>
>>> As I mentioned in the initial post, I do not know. My intuitions are
>>> overtaxed by the problem.
>>>
>>
>> If I tried either a 20% reduction in the painful stimulus I would be in
>> slightly less pain and scream slightly less, while if circuit A were
>> switched off I would feel I was in just as much pain and scream just the
>> same. So if I had a choice, I would choose the 20% reduction. If you told
>> me that I was deluded about my pain, and I was actually better off
>> switching circuit A, I would probably use some bad words telling you what
>> you could do with your advice.
>>
>
> ### Obviously, other people's pain doesn't hurt much. I know that. The
> discussion is not just about the pain you remember but about the sum total
> of pain being experienced in the system under consideration.
>
> Rafal
>

We can't rule out that other people's pain hurts just as much, only we are
amnesiac about it.

Jason
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