A 10:59 +0100 3/08/99, Higgo James a �crit: >I fail to see how the format of the inputs, eg ASCII, has any bearing on the >discussion. I have an optical system than converts data such as colours into >electrical signals, like a keyboard converts ascii characters into >electrical signals and a monitor convert them back. > >I was built by chance and necessity, which created a highly-compressed HLUT >as an evolutionary tool. > >Clearly this is a major philosophical difference we have. I think that those >on my & Hans's (and Dennett's) side of the fence will have more luck >progressing discussions of consciousness, and building conscious machines, >than those on the other side. > >James
James, I didn't want you to misunderstand me. I am confident that you or others will succeed in building conscious machines in the future, and I am "on your side" from this point of view. I disagree with Hans if he thinks it will be achieved just by doing an enormous list of possibilities.The "highly compressed HLUT" is not a HLUT by definition, it is a smart analogic device able to perform tasks that would require an enormous (and impossible to build in practice) digital computer, thanks to a correct representation of the outer world AND ITSELF (a "self-consistency" condition). I think that consciousness lies somewhere in this property, i.e. a conscious machine MUST have a vision of itself as correct as that of the outer world. Gilles
