<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Dec 12, 2009, at 4:47 PM, Gordon Swobe wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font>It seems you would not care how we constructed those neurons, provided they squirted the same neurotransmitters and emitted the same electrical signals between themselves, i.e., that they performed the same functions as real biological neurons. </span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I will care about those internal workings just as soon as you show me that if I multiply 6 times 5 on a vacuum tube computer I will get a different answer than if I multiply 6 times 5 on a solid state computer that works by semiconductors. </div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">We could on that view construct a contraption the size of Texas with gigantic neurons constructed of, say, band-aids, Elmers glue, beer cans and toilet paper. Provided those neurons squirted the same chemicals and signals betwixt themselves as in a real brain, would you consider the contraption conscious? </span></blockquote><div><br></div>I don't understand why you keep asking that, if it acts intelligently then it's conscious and I don't care if its made of dog turds.</div><div><br></div><div> John K Clark<br><div><br></div></div><br></body></html>