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What is it like to be a smartphone?

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Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#31

Post by gruez »

monocasa wrote: post #23
gruez wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DNA is generally non-mutable, so that's more akin to the (read-only) /system partition on androids. There's still the /data partition which is mutable and gets saved even after you power down.

In that conceptual framework it seems life doesn't have non volatile storage at all, so it seems a bit of a non sequitur to use it in an analogy with computing systems. The closest I can come up with using that framework is plasmids. But if you squirreled away the plasmids of a plasma before ceasing all of it's operations, then injected those plasmids into a new copy of the bacterium, you'd still say that the origina…

>In that conceptual framework it seems life doesn't have non volatile storage at all

how so?

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#32

Post by monocasa »

gruez wrote: post #31
monocasa wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that conceptual framework it seems life doesn't have non volatile storage at all, so it seems a bit of a non sequitur to use it in an analogy with computing systems. The closest I can come up with using that framework is plasmids. But if you squirreled away the plasmids of a plasma before ceasing all of it's operations, then injected those plasmids into a new copy of the bacterium, you'd still say that the origina…

>In that conceptual framework it seems life doesn't have non volatile storage at all how so?

Do you have a counter example?

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#33

Post by blonde_ocean »

jprupp wrote: post #14

What is it like to be the Internet? That structure resembles our brain: a reactive, resilient, shifting network of connections among billions of individual human brains using smartphones and other technological devices, storing, aggregating and routing information in complex and arbitrary ways. If consciousness is to be found in our technology, I wouldn't look at the individual smartphone, but at the network of all s…

100%. I disagree with the article in that there’s nothing inherently mysterious or “hard” (like the “hard” problem of consciousness) in the inner machinations of a smartphone. In the inner machinations of a mind, yes, but not in a smartphone. Everything that goes on within it is designed and controlled and can be explained by a human.

Large networks, e.g. the brain or the Internet, on the other hand, are exponentially more complex and so offer the possibility of being unexplainable when looking at certain behaviors. A recursive problem in a sense.

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#36

Post by frosted-flakes »

jprupp wrote: post #14

What is it like to be the Internet? That structure resembles our brain: a reactive, resilient, shifting network of connections among billions of individual human brains using smartphones and other technological devices, storing, aggregating and routing information in complex and arbitrary ways. If consciousness is to be found in our technology, I wouldn't look at the individual smartphone, but at the network of all s…

Like Jane in the Ender's Game series. Fascinating stuff.

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#37

Post by core-questions »

samatman wrote: post #27
monocasa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say they die. There's not really a better analog in biology. Even in the case of sexual reproduction, the new life carries tons of epigenetic state across the creation boundary, and is more akin to fork(2) than exec(2). A ceasing of operations and erasure of all current state seems more like death to me.

What you're illustrating here is that "awake", "asleep", "death", and "life", are pretty terrible metaphors for states our computers exist in. Saying my laptop is "asleep" when it's suspended is verbally cromulent, no one would be confused by what I meant. But the metaphor breaks down badly on any attempt to extend it. Even if I brick it, I have the option to purchase fresh equipment and restore from the most recent…

Perhaps we should say 'reborn' instead of rebooted, 'reincarnated' instead of 'reinstalled'.

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#38

Post by [deleted] »

lemonberry wrote: post #16

Fun read. Only tangentially related... the podcast "Everything is Alive" is really enjoyable. The host interviews a variety of everyday objects: a can of soda, a magic eight ball, a towel, a song, etc. The first episode, "Louis, Can of Cola", is my favorite.

[deleted]

Re: What is it like to be a smartphone?

#40

Post by ballark »

blonde_ocean wrote: post #33
jprupp wrote: post #14

What is it like to be the Internet? That structure resembles our brain: a reactive, resilient, shifting network of connections among billions of individual human brains using smartphones and other technological devices, storing, aggregating and routing information in complex and arbitrary ways. If consciousness is to be found in our technology, I wouldn't look at the individual smartphone, but at the network of all s…

100%. I disagree with the article in that there’s nothing inherently mysterious or “hard” (like the “hard” problem of consciousness) in the inner machinations of a smartphone. In the inner machinations of a mind, yes, but not in a smartphone. Everything that goes on within it is designed and controlled and can be explained by a human. Large networks, e.g. the brain or the Internet, on the other hand, are exponentiall…

I largely agree with you, but answer the reducibility problem. At what point does a network become complex enough to form consciousness? I think the writer of this article likely believes that there is no such point, that all information processing is consciously experienced phenomenon on a sliding scale of complexity
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