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I have the feeling of experiencing things. Is it not possible that such a phenomenon can be produced within a machine?
When I try to answer this question, after coding for decades I can’t tell you how this phenomenon can be possible within a Turing machine.
So it seems obvious to me that (a) brains must be machines and (b) a machine cannot be conscious and so I conclude that (c) I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I have been hearing about Koch, and Tononi, and panpsychism, and phi for years now, in these articles summarizing consciousness for laymen, (a group that includes me). And these very long articles bloviate but never go any further than giving a facile description of phi, claiming that this IIT "theory" is testable, and then not saying how it could be tested. The articles from five years ago and this one seem intercha…
A good place to start, if you are a firm skeptic and not willing to even attempt faith or your own empirical experiences, is a book called Entangled Minds. There is not a single claim made in this book which does not have a reference to a proper peer-reviewed paper attached to it, iirc several hundred papers in all. It firmly supports consciousness being in at minimum earthworms, and probably even ,,lower,, creatures…
Actually as far as I understand we know that telepathy does not work, and even more so with psychokinesis. Did you read the book, can you point me to the scientific evidence of psychokinesis?
What is consciousness? I have the feeling of experiencing things. Is it not possible that such a phenomenon can be produced within a machine? When I try to answer this question, after coding for decades I can’t tell you how this phenomenon can be possible within a Turing machine. So it seems obvious to me that (a) brains must be machines and (b) a machine cannot be conscious and so I conclude that (c) I don’t know wh…
https://mattasher.com/2020/07/19/episode-11-tam-hunt-on-cons...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure we can. Biological life is something that replicates autonomously using DNA contained inside the apparatus of at least one cell. Viruses are not alive because they can not replicate on their own and do not produce their own cells. More abstractly life is something that follows the Darwinian program as demonstrated on Earth. If you had competing, replicating programs in a virtualised Earth-like environment I woul…
You seem to be able to, but it doesn't seem to generalize to scientists in general: https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-life-its-vast-diversi...
Gp asserted "We don't know how to define life." I put forth a closed definition of life that makes sense. Others may have a less restrictive definition...my definition demonstrated that sufficient conditions exist to define life.
What is consciousness? I have the feeling of experiencing things. Is it not possible that such a phenomenon can be produced within a machine? When I try to answer this question, after coding for decades I can’t tell you how this phenomenon can be possible within a Turing machine. So it seems obvious to me that (a) brains must be machines and (b) a machine cannot be conscious and so I conclude that (c) I don’t know wh…
For a superb and rigorous account of the ontological basis of consciousness, and why it might be superior to panpsychism while being more in line with scientific evidence, check "The idea of the world" by Bernardo Kastrup (or any of his work/youtube interview). Really compelling case. He used to work at CERN, and was the youngest executive at ASML, till recent when he decided to dedicate himself solely to philosophy.…
His approach, reasoning and explanations have been very appealing to my analytical Mind.
We treat everything as an object, even mental thoughts and experiences. When we think of awareness, we objectify that awareness using one of the sense experience. But consciousness transcends awareness and in consciousness exits awareness. Consciousness is not an object of experience and that is why it is difficult to understand.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A good place to start, if you are a firm skeptic and not willing to even attempt faith or your own empirical experiences, is a book called Entangled Minds. There is not a single claim made in this book which does not have a reference to a proper peer-reviewed paper attached to it, iirc several hundred papers in all. It firmly supports consciousness being in at minimum earthworms, and probably even ,,lower,, creatures…
How about a single neuron? After all, a single neuron is far more complex than a worm—just like a company is far less complex than the people who compose it.
All a single neuron does is pass a signal to the synaptic cleft in response to a chemical or electrical signal at the other end. It's a simple subunit of a larger system.
Saying a single neuron is more complex than a worm is like saying a cat6 ethernet cable is more complex than a blast furnace.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A good place to start, if you are a firm skeptic and not willing to even attempt faith or your own empirical experiences, is a book called Entangled Minds. There is not a single claim made in this book which does not have a reference to a proper peer-reviewed paper attached to it, iirc several hundred papers in all. It firmly supports consciousness being in at minimum earthworms, and probably even ,,lower,, creatures…
How about a single neuron? After all, a single neuron is far more complex than a worm—just like a company is far less complex than the people who compose it.