[ExI] Digital Consciousness .

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Wed Apr 24 06:10:23 UTC 2013


> Thank you very much, spike! Back then, I took my ideas about the philosophy of mind to a philosophy forum where there was no predisposition to believe in such things as uploading. I spent perhaps a year debating this subject, mostly with acolytes of Daniel Dennett.

Philosophers have no clue about the problem.
 
> I remain convinced that digital simulations can never have consciousness, and that strong (conscious) AI and uploading is impossible on digital computers.

First question: what do you mean by consciousness?
Second question: what do you think computational neuroscientists are doing?
Specifically, projects like http://www.si-elegans.eu/ and http://www.openworm.org/
Third question: you realize that there are analogue computers. You agree that you
can simulate biology in analogue computers. Yet digital computers can simulate
analogue computers (and in fact any physical process). How is that possible?
 
> To John Clark's point: yes it is true that nature has built these machines that have consciousness, you and I being among them, but I think these machines that we call humans are not akin to digital computers. 



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