<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">I'll bet neurologists could tell us several places in the brain which, if deadened, would lead to loss of consciousness.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">What does it mean to be conscious? I think it is simple: one is aware of some aspects of his environment. All living creatures have some of this. An amoeba is conscious of a toxic substance it has run into and moves away from it. A tree is conscious of insects attacking it and releases chemicals to fight them, and often signals other trees of that attack. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">The further you go up the phylogenetic scale the more the creature can process and understand the information coming into its sensors. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">So I think that consciousness did not evolve. It was there from the beginning in simple form. More and more sophisticated sensors did evolve. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 12:37 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div>On 26/09/2021 17:00, bill w wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:small"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">Could an impressively
intelligent AI fake sentience? </font></span></div>
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<p>I'm not sure what this means. (I'm assuming you mean sapience,
seeing as sentience is easy. Worms and bacteria are sentient. You
could argue that your computer is already sentient).<br>
</p>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:small"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">I think so. If so we
will never know if it is faking or real. <br>
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<p><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">I don't know this about
you, either. Or anyone else.</font></p>
<p><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif"><br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:small"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif"> Suppose we find a
consciousness center in humans. We turn it off so that
the person is responding totally with his unconscious
mind. No metaconsciousness (or ego) overseeing what is
happening. We could never know. It would be like some
definitions of a zombie. Alive but not alive.
Living dead. Differently alive. Like the advanced AI:
there would be no real difference. bill w</font></span></div>
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<p><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">Suppose we don't find a
consciousness centre in humans, or in anything. I suspect we
won't.<br>
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<p><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">I reckon we need to
consider why consciousness (whatever it is) evolved. There must
be a good reason. Personally, I think it's essential for
sapience. A metaphysical zombie like that you describe, is
nonsensical. Dennett explains this much better than I can.</font></p>
<p><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif">Ben<br>
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