[ExI] Quantum consciousness, quantum mysticism, and transhumanist engineering

[Colin Hales]

On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 3:46 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Apr 2, 2017 22:46, "Stathis Papaioannou" <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> It is not obvious that a computation about nature can be conscious, but
> neither is it obvious that it cannot.
>
>
> --
> Stathis Papaioannou
>
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>
> On 3 April 2017 at 14:17, Will Steinberg <steinberg.will at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Apr 2, 2017 22:46, "Stathis Papaioannou" <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> It is not obvious that a computation about nature can be conscious, but
>> neither is it obvious that it cannot.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Stathis Papaioannou
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> extropy-chat mailing list
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>
>>
>> All the 'computations about nature' that have ever been and will ever be
>> discussed in this list were *designed by conscious beings*, also known as
>> consciousness.
>>
>> You're making the same mistake as the Chinese Room, which is neglecting
>> the fact that someone had to build the room itself.
>>
>
>
> Are you implying that it would make a difference how the entity whose
> consciousness was in question was made? For example, consider three
> identical robots, one made by humans, the second by weird aliens, the third
> thrown together from spare parts by a tornado: would you expect that they
> would have different consciousnesses?
>
> --
> Stathis Papaioannou
>
>
No. Of course, in identically constructed robots, each consciousness would
have different contents and individuate each robot. But the robots would
have their consciousness originate in the same kind of physics (the same
kind of matter arranged and behaving in the  same kinds of ways). It's the
essential kind of physics of it that matters. In 'being' that, and only
that kind, arranged in the same way, that makes it 'like something' to be
that matter. In my case, as you probably know, that physics is the EM field
system. Dorian Aur would have it originate only from ions in a cellular
context. I would have it originate using electrons in an inorganic context.
... And the quantum mechanics comes along for the ride. An EM field account
of consciousness is also a quantum mechanical account of consciousness. But
... I digress.

Colin
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