<div dir="ltr"><div><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="gmail_extra m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="gmail_quote m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">On 4 February 2017 at 09:18, Brent Allsop <span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><<a href="mailto:brent.allsop@gmail.com" class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" target="_blank">brent.allsop@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><blockquote class="gmail_quote m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">
<p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">Stathis, I’m
still having troubles trying to communicate with you.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>You keep getting distracted on irrelevant
things, and missing what is important.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">
</span>Let me try the following to see if that helps.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">Let’s go
back to our simple system that has 3 components.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>Or better, three sets of important
functionality.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>There are two
representations of knowledge, and a binding system that can bind the two
representations together – to create a composite qualitative conscious
experience.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>The two representations of
knowledge can be done with something that functions with a redness (like
glutamate) or greenness (like glycine) qualities.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>The binding system puts them together so you
can be aware of both of them at the same time as a diverse composite qualitative
experience.</p></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div><div><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="gmail_extra m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="gmail_quote m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><blockquote class="gmail_quote m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">
<p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">Now, when
you do the neural substitution on this system, just like you can do with big or
little endian representations, you can fallaciously (for obvious reasons) argue
that the redness or greenness functionality cannot exist at the hardware (or even functional level - as long as you include the function of redness and grenness qualities) level –
but must only exist at the abstracted computational level.</p></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I don't see why it's obviously fallacious or obvious. You won't engage with what is the relatively simple question of *observable behaviour*. Humans have moving parts: molecules, ion currents, ultimately bones which are pulled by tendons connected to muscles which are controlled by nerves. Consider just these mechanical processes. Do you agree that they can be replicated using alternative materials and devices, for example tiny electric motors in place of actin-myosin in the process of exocytosis whereby neurotransmitters are released into the synapse, titanium rods in place of bones, artificial isotopes of potassium and sodium? Or do you think there is some theoretical reason (not just a practical, engineering reason) why this can't be done with particular components of a bilogical system - and if so, what is it that makes those components special? Please answer this considering *only observable behaviour*. Imagine you are a simple-minded engineer who has no idea about consciousness and your job is *only* to examine the part of the body you are assigned and design a replacement part using various electrical and mechanical nanocomponents.<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><p class="MsoNormal m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt">You also
said: “The ‘hard problem’ is the question of why there should be any qualia at
all. If you show that redness is associated with glutamate, you have not
answered this question.” Which is again, getting miss directed away from what
is really important here.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>Of course we
don’t know why there is gravity, we just know what has gravity and how it
performs, allowing us to fly in space.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">
</span>The same is true with qualia.<span class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"> </span>We
don’t need to know why whatever “has” a redness experience function – gives us
the qualitative experiences it does, we just need to know what has this
functionality, so we can detect it and use it to eff the ineffable and greatly
expand our qualitative conscious experience abilities.</p></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>That's one explanation - that the "hard problem" is really a non-problem. <br></div></div></div></div><div class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="gmail_extra m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><br class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" clear="all"><br class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg">-- <br class="m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg"><div class="m_-3568668105548928074m_-8628572856357231760gmail_signature m_-3568668105548928074gmail_msg" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Stathis Papaioannou</div>
</div></div></div></div>