[ExI] Do digital computers feel?

[John Clark]

On Sat, Jan 21, 2017 at 11:07 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
wrote:

​
>> ​>>​
>> Does your consciousness change after you've had 5 or 6 beers? If it does
>> then you've ​
>> ​proven that a change to the substrate (in this case a increase in the
>> number of C2H6O molecules) can lead to a change in consciousness. >
>>
>

​> ​
> Substrate-independence means you can implement the software on any
> hardware and get the same result.
>

​Yes, some believe the same hardware is required to produce the same
results, but we know for a fact that is not true for consciousness because
the same atoms do not remain in your brain throughout life or even come
close to doing so; you are quite literally made out of last year's mashed
potatoes. And we know for a fact that a change in the physical arrangement
of the brain will always coincide with a change in consciousness, and we
know for a fact that a change in consciousness will always coincide with a
change in the physical arrangement of the brain. So that leaves nothing for
an immortal soul to do. So consciousness must be a function of the
arrangement of atoms which obey the laws of physics. So the thing that
makes you be you is information on how generic atoms in your brain are
arranged. It is my, perhaps unrealistic perhaps not, hope that liquid
nitrogen can preserve this information, and that's why I gave Alcor $80,000.


> ​> ​
> Hans Moravec wrote a well known version of this neural replacement thought
> experiment.
>


Hans Moravec
​ is great, he wrote some of my all time favorite books.​

​

 John K Clark
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