[extropy-chat] Qualia bet with Eliezer

[Marc Geddes]

On 11/30/05, Brent Allsop <allsop at extropy.org> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> If not Eliezer, is there anyone else that would be willing to take such a
> bet?  Could we persuade someone like Daniel Dennett to take such a
> bet?  Or
> if some people don't like these terms - how might we tweak them so they
> are
> meaningful and agreeable to both parties?
>
> Brent Allsop



As others point out, it's not clear exactly what it is your're proposing -
your definitions are just too vague.

If by 'qualia' you mean something exists that has a reality over and above
the physical processes which gave rise them then I agree with you.

If by 'qualia' you mean that there exists some non-material substance which
can exist independently of the brain then no I disagree with you.  You don't
need to bet with Eliezer about that.  Substance dualism was dead by 1949.

My guess would be that new laws of physics are indeed needed for a
complete *explanation* of qualia (namely my 'extra time dimensions'
theory).  However I am also sure that all laws of physics are computational
and that qualia are entirely generated by commputational physical
processes.  Therefore I think that all you need to generate conscious
experience is the right software.

What qualia are is perfectly obvious - to me at least ;)  They're obviously
a processes on a higher-dimenionsal time-line, which *includes* (projects
down on to) ordinary material causality.  Qualia are *mathematical sets*.
And mathematical sets are a relationship between mind and reality.  The mind
*groups together* many individual particulars in a certain way to form the
meaning  of a *concept*.  For instance the meaning of the concept 'blue' is
the *set* of all blue objects linked together by a mind (for instance a blue
curtain, a blue sky, a blue car).  So qualia are mathematical sets
summarizing all the associations that make all the meaning of a concept.
Simple really.











--
To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
-William Blake

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http://www.riemannai.org/
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