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

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On Thu., 9 Mar. 2017 at 9:24 am, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Mar 7, 2017  Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:


​> ​
If some aspect of my consciousness, or another entity's consciousness if
they have it, were due to an intrinsic quality of a brain component which
could not be duplicated by duplicating the observable behaviour of that
component, then it would imply a decoupling of mind from body.
​


But if that
​
mysterious
​
aspect of consciousness is disconnected from observable behavior
​
then there would be no way for
​
anybody
​
to ever discover it, there would be no way Evolution could have produced it
and
​
, being
​unrelated to
observable
​ behavior​
,
​
from
​my​
 point of view it would be totally irreverent if a AI had
​that mysterious aspect​
​
 or not
​. I
f
​
a
​
AI or my fellow humans don't have it that's
​
their
​
problem not mine.

I think we should worry less about consciousness and more about
​observable ​
intelligent behavior.



It's not immediately obvious that the belief that consciousness is only
generated by biological systems is wrong. If you have this belief then you
would be reluctant to accept non-biological brain implants proved to lead
to no behavioural change, because you would fear that your consciousness
might be affected, and what would be the point of continuing to behave
normally if you have turned into a zombie, or lost some vital part of your
consciousness, such as visual experiences?

The problem with this idea is that if consciousness were substrate specific
it would mean that it is only contingently related to behaviour. From the
point when the brain implants were installed your consciousness would go
one way and your behaviour would go another; you would notice in horror
that you had gone blind, but your mouth would open by itself and sound
would come out telling everyone that everything was just the same.

-- 
Stathis Papaioannou
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