Matt Mahoney wrote:
--- On Wed, 11/12/08, Colin Hales <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It is difficult but you can test for it objectively by
demanding that an entity based on your 'theory of
consciousness' deliver an authentic scientific act on
the a-priori unknown using visual experience for scientific
evidence.
So a blind person is not conscious?
-- Matt Mahoney, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A blind person cannot behave scientifically in the manner of the
sighted. The blind person cannot be a scientist 'of that which is
visually evidenced'. As an objective test specifically for visual
P-consciousness, the blind person's failure would prove the blind
person has no visual P-consciousness. If a monkey passed the test then
it would be proved visually P-conscious (as well as mighty smart!). A
blind-sighted person would fail because they can't handle the radical
novelty in the test. Again the test would prove they have no visual
P-consciousness. A computer, if it passed, must have created inside
itself all of the attributes of P-consciousness as utilised in vision
applied to scientific evidence. You can argue about the details of any
'experience' only when armed with the physics _after_ the test is
passed, when you can discuss the true nature of the physics involved
from an authoritative position. If the requisite physics is missing the
test subject will fail.
That is the characteristic of a useful test. Unambiguous outcomes
critically dependent on the presence of a claimed phenomenon. You don't
even have to know the physics details. External behaviour is decisive
and anyone could administer the test, provided it was set up properly.
Note that experimental-scientists and applied scientists are literally
scientific evidence of consciousness. They don't have to deliver
anything except their normal science deliverables to complete the proof.
They do nothing else but prove they are visually P-conscious for their
entire lives.
cheers,
colin
-------------------------------------------
agi
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