<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv0448139496"><div>Stathis,</div><div><br><div>> You don't know and yet you do know, with certainty, that computers can't be conscious. </div><div><br></div><div>Yes. I don't know how the brain becomes conscious (nobody does) but I've ruled out the possibility that a digital computer can do it. If and when we ever create a brain, that object will a lot more like a brain than a computer. </div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">> The brain contains atoms, the atoms follow the same laws of physics as atoms do everywhere else in the universe, and it is just that
the </span><br></div><div>> atoms in the brain are in a particular arrangement that results in consciousness. </div><div><br></div><div>Sure, I agree with that. We'll need to arrange a pile of atoms into a configuration that is exactly or at least approximately identical to the way nature has configured them. </div><div><br></div><div>Gordon</div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>