[extropy-chat] qualia

[gts]

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:07:36 -0500, Dirk Bruere <dirk.bruere at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> Even if that is true, it still leaves open the question of the  
> communication between matter and intelligence such that qualia are  
> appreciated.
> If every bit of information processed results in a speck of
> consciousness/qualia or whatever, what is the mechanism that 'sees' it  
> and reports it to other?

My view here is similar to Brent's.

Either awareness arises as some new magical property out of unaware matter  
(emergentism), or else it is present in all matter (pan-psychism). I  
reject the former and accept the latter. Brent calls this "phenomenal  
properties of matter". I believe we are proposing the same idea, more or  
less.

I think neurons in the brain experience a color when the light stimulus  
makes an imprint in them. We don't know the exact mechanism, but obviously  
it involves physical changes within or among neurons. In my view that  
physical change *is* awareness. Furthermore I think awareness happens  
whenever any physical object is affected by any stimulus.

Higher organisms like humans experience the world and also *reflect* on  
their experience. I suppose this involves other neurons observing the  
changes made to the neurons above. This makes us not only aware, but  
self-aware. This is consciousness, not to be confused with awareness.

The key point here is that experience is in the initial imprint. An  
organism can have experiences without the ability to reflect on them, as  
is probably the case for example with insects. A brain without the ability  
to reflect on experience would be analogous to a camera: aware but not  
self-aware and not conscious. In this respect insects are similar to  
robotic cameras equipped with some programming.

As John has pointed out, one could say that I am rendering the word  
"awareness" meaningless, because if everything is aware then it makes no  
sense to point at something and call it aware. He's right.

Eugen has accused me of arguing for animism, but I am not suggesting  
animism or any other form of vitalism.

If my insight here is correct then strong AI becomes more feasible. It  
should be possible to build a machine out of inanimate materials that  
experiences qualia. If the machine is modeled on and functionally  
equivalent to the brain then it will experience qualia, and seem to itself  
to be as alive as you and me.

-gts