[extropy-chat] Qualia bet with Eliezer

[John K Clark]

"Brent Allsop" <allsop at extropy.org>

> The discovery of qualia or phenomenal properties (which I once thought did
> not exist) which scientific evidence is now showing us do indeed exists

What kind of dumb bet is this? Of course qualia exists and I have the one
thing that's even better than scientific evidence to prove it to myself,
direct experience. Unfortunately this evidence is available only to me. And
although I can't prove it I strongly believe that other people experience
qualia too. I believe this because I simply could not function if I did not,
in fact everybody this side of a loony bin believes it too.

Will there ever be consciousness theories? You bet your life there will be,
we have them today. Consciousness (but not intelligence!) theories are a
dime a dozen, but there is a problem. The only way to test your wonderful
new theory is by observing behavior, just like the Turing test. Your theory
may predict that my current brain state should produce a feeling of sadness,
you may even see tears in my eyes, but the only way to know if I have any
subjective experience at all much less sadness is to ask me and take note of
the sounds produced by my mouth.

You could of course alter your brain so it was an exact copy of mine and
then you'd know exactly what it's like to be me. Or would you?
The trouble is then you wouldn't be you anymore, you'd be me.

    John K Clark