On 06/02/2008 12:00 PM,, John G. Rose wrote:
A rock is either conscious or not conscious. Is it less intellectually sloppy to declare it not conscious? John
A rock is either conscious or not conscious (if consciousness is a boolean all-or-nothing phenomenon that does not admit of degrees). I don't believe consciousness is an all-or-nothing, but it doesn't matter: I still believe it is absolutely less intellectually sloppy to declare it not conscious.
Why do I believe this when I don't know it with absolute certainty? Because there are strong reasons to believe that certain (functional) prerequisites for consciousness are not satisfied by rocks, and there is additionally no evidence that rocks *are* conscious. I'm surprised that I would even have to state this on this forum (or that it would be objected to anywhere, for that matter).
Joseph ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=103754539-40ed26 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
