[ExI] Zombie glutamate

Tomaz Kristan protokol2020 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 19 14:29:53 UTC 2015


Brent!

I would like to upload myself, of course. Into  a pleasant (virtual)
environment.

What if I die first?

I was dead before. Before I was born. Still, I am here, uploaded into some
biology.





On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 3:00 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Thursday, February 19, 2015, Brent Allsop <brent.allsop at canonizer.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Stathis,
>>
>> It feels to me that the entire paper has come together, in a very
>> compelling way, except for the section at the end where I attempt to
>> address the neural substitution argument.  I have a real hard time getting
>> my head arround the way a functionalist thinks.  I know a bunch of the
>> stuff I end up saying is completely useless, and I know I can say the right
>> thing, but I just don't know how to put it in a way that will be
>> understood, as best as possible, to a functionalist.
>>
>
> Brent, I reread the paper and I have to say, whatever you've done to
> it, the latest version of it is much clearer. Good luck with the
> presentation at the conference.
>
>
>> The current section on the neural substitution argument at the end is
>> just a loose collection of ideas I'm tyring to put together.  I wonder if
>> you could provide some feedback on if any of that is good, or a complete
>> waste, and so on.
>>
>> And can I get you, or anyone, to state the issue you have, in general,
>> with the idea of the paper.
>>
>>
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vxfbgfm8XIqkmC5Vus7wBb982JMOA8XMrTZQ4smkiyI/edit
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Brent Allsop
>>
>
> I feel that the ideas expressed in the paper about effing the ineffable
> are not directly related to the question of whether functionalism is
> correct. I'm not sure why you want to include the section of neural
> substitution in the same paper.
>
> I also feel that you have missed the point of the neural substitution
> argument (or Chalmers' statement of it). I would suggest that you try
> thinking about the replacement in the first instance by forgetting about
> consciousness, zombies or information and considering only the mechanics of
> the system. To an alien scientist, a brain may be just a system of
> interacting organic parts. If he replaces glutamate with a functional
> analogue, all he is concerned about is that it have the same effect on
> glutamate receptors. If it does, then the subject will say "I see red, same
> as before". He MUST say this, because he said it with natural glutamate,
> and the glutamate substitute is performing the same role. Forgetting
> completely about qualia, zombies and so on for the moment and thinking only
> about chemistry, do you see that this must be so?
>
>
> --
> Stathis Papaioannou
>
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>
>


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