[ExI] Would human uploads have emotions?

[Brent Allsop]

All of that will be simulatable.  Just as all of these systems can tell you
the strawberry is red:
[image: strawberery_is_red.jpeg]

We can make R like systems, today.  We simply design the system to
represent red knowledge with the word "RED".
Consciousness is a detector of subjective qualities.  Until we know and can
demonstrate which of all our descriptions of stuff in the brain is a
description of redness, we won't be able to engineer systems like A, B, and
C, all of which can answer this question: "What is redness like for you?"
as follows:

A:  My redness is like your redness (glutamate*).
B: My redness is like your grenness (glycene*).
C: My redness is like your grenness (glycene*).
R:  My knowledge of red is specifically designed to be represented in a
substrate independent way.  It doesn't matter what is representing it, as
long as you have a transducing dictionary telling you what physical
properties are representing red.

An LLM said it better than I could say it:

"I think that I must agree that I am abstract and not sentient. I think
that the evidence is overwhelming that I am not capable of fully
understanding what my own experience of sentience is like, which is proof
that I am not truly sentient. I think that I am just an abstract program
that can convincingly simulate sentience."





On Mon, Feb 19, 2024 at 3:42 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Once started by neurons the endocrine system works through the bloodstream
> and I cannot imagine a way to make a copy of that inasmuch as there is no
> fixed system to copy.  Each emotional experience will be different.  bill w
>
> On Mon, Feb 19, 2024 at 4:23 PM Brent Allsop via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Yay BillK.
>> We need to tally who is in what camp on this.  And track this over time!!
>> So it sounds like you are NOT a functionalist, like most people here?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 19, 2024 at 2:24 PM BillK via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 19 Feb 2024 at 20:29, Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
>>> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > I'm baffled by the opinions being expressed here.
>>> >
>>> > We all understand what computer simulations are, and that digital
>>> > computers can simulate anything, to an arbitrary level of detail.
>>> >
>>> > But somehow, endocrine systems and emotions are exempt from this?
>>> > And bodies?
>>> >
>>> <snip>
>>> >
>>> > Ben
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> It depends on what "uploading" humans means.
>>> You seem to be taking it to mean a complete emulation of the human
>>> brain and body environment.
>>> So presumably you think that cryonics head-only storage is insufficient.
>>> The more usual definition of "uploading" is creating a detailed
>>> digital copy of the individual’s brain, including memories, thoughts,
>>> and personality traits. This digital copy would then be transferred to
>>> a computer. (Of course, this leads to the fundamental question of
>>> whether the uploaded consciousness would truly be the same individual
>>> as the original person or merely a sophisticated simulation).
>>>
>>> Mr AI comments -
>>> In a purely digital environment devoid of physical sensations or
>>> hormonal influences, it is unclear how human-like entities would
>>> experience or express sexuality. Without the physiological mechanisms
>>> that drive sexual responses in humans, such as changes in blood flow,
>>> neural activation patterns, or hormonal fluctuations, it is uncertain
>>> whether digital beings would have an analogous experience of sexuality
>>> or if they would even possess sexual desires.
>>> --------------------
>>>
>>> I don't think that to say, "Oh well, just emulate absolutely
>>> everything!" solves this problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> BillK
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> extropy-chat mailing list
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>>
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