[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet

[Jef Allbright]

On 12/24/05, gts <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Paramecium bursaria may be representative of the first animals to have
> eyes. Curiously, their eyes are plants.
>
> P. bursaria farm Chlorella in their cytoplasm:
>
> https://mailserver5.hushmail.com/hushmail/index.php
>
> Unlike its un-chlorella-fied cousins,  P. bursaria gravitate toward light
> for nourishment.
>
> Does it make sense then to say P. bursaria can see but that its cousins
> are blind? I think so. Normal paramecia wander about aimlessly to find
> food, like blind unconscious people.
>
> But P. bursaria is smarter than your average bear: it uses Chlorella to
> "see".
>
> Do P. bursaria experience something we could call quaila? If not then what
> do we mean by "seeing"?
>

So the paramecium can see.  In other words, the system is able to
detect differences in light patterns in its environment and these
differences influence its behavior.  A simple electrical vehicle can
be configured to do much the same thing using photosensors and a
differential circuit driving the steering.  People also sense and
respond to their environment, but in much more complex ways.  They're
all physical systems reacting to their environment in physical,
understandable ways.  What use is the concept of qualia in such a
description?