You referred to "The illusion of phenomenal consciousness". My response (perhaps one you already agree with) is that illusions are real phenomena, they are just not what they seem. I think consciousness is a real phenomena.
With regard to your statement that consciousness does not require any new physics, I agree, which you would know if you have read my initial post in this thread. But as of the 2014 Toward a Science of Consciousness conference, most of the leaders in the field of conscious theory had no satisfactory explanation for our conscious awareness, and had said as much. To say that consciousness is an "illusion" is not an explanation. That statement is usually used to, in effect, say there is nothing to explain. I don't know about you, but I think there is something to explain. On Friday, June 12, 2015, Matt Mahoney <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 4:25 PM, EdFromNH . <[email protected] > <javascript:;>> wrote: > > How can you test if a person has phenominal consciousness? > > > > As I said in my original post on the Compwareness Theory, consciousness > is subjective because of internal bandwidth and P.O.V. issues. Thus, > actually experiencing someones consciousness is currently (and perhaps > forever) impossible. But the medical community has developed tests that > are believed to be able to determine if someone is conscious based on the > causal unification of the computation in their brain. This fits with the > discussion in my initial post on how compwareness can have the unities we > subjectively sense in phenomenal consciousness. > > The medical definition of consciousness is the mental state of being > awake and able to respond to sensory events or remember and recall > them later. This mental state correlates with brain activity in > certain regions that can be detected with an EKG, fMRI, or PET scan. > We can use these tests to detect whether an anesthetic has taken > effect. > > There was a case of a person with locked-in syndrome (unable to move), > who was determined to be conscious because he could detect different > brain patterns when told to think of playing tennis or walking through > their house. He could then respond to yes or no questions this way. > > We expect that a conscious person can read and write into episodic > memory. Episodic memory is the association of events with a time or > place. The hippocampus has a 2-D grid of "place" cells that map to the > external world and fire as you move about. When you see or do > something at a certain place, you associate it with your location, and > indirectly, with time. People without a hippocampus lack episodic > memory. They will not remember what you said one minute ago. However, > they still have procedural memory. If they rode a bike yesterday, they > would not remember having done so, even though their bike riding > skills have improved. Knowing how to ride a bike is procedural or > "unconscious" memory. You do it without thinking about it. > > "Thinking" means recalling an event from episodic memory and storing > another copy (with new, learned associations). You recall riding a > bike yesterday. Tomorrow you recall that you recalled it today. > > The illusion of phenomenal consciousness or qualia is the result of > positive reinforcement associated with writing into episodic memory. > We enjoy experiencing new things, reading, watching videos, having > conversations, going new places, and just thinking. Positive > reinforcement is a signal from the nucleus accumbens and VTA that > makes us more likely to repeat actions that immediately preceded the > signal. The observed behavior is that we seek out new experiences. We > think there is something special about experience and why we want it > to continue. But really, it is just evolution's way of increasing our > reproductive fitness. We don't want this stream of consciousness to > end by dying. > > All of this is computable with neurons or transistors. It does not > require any new physics. > > -- > -- Matt Mahoney, [email protected] <javascript:;> > > > ------------------------------------------- > AGI > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/8630185-a57a74e1 > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
