Peter Jones writes:

> If consciousness supervenes on inherent non-interprtation-dependent
> features,
> it can supervene on features which are binary, either present or
> absent.
> 
> For instance, whether a programme examines or modifies its own code is
> surely
> such a feature.
> 
> 
> >Even if computationalism were false and only those machines
> > specially blessed by God were conscious there would have to be a continuum, 
> > across
> > different species and within the lifespan of an individual from birth to 
> > death. The possibility
> > that consciousness comes on like a light at some point in your life, or at 
> > some point in the
> > evolution of a species, seems unlikely to me.
> 
> Surely it comes on like a light whenver you wake up.

Being alive/dead or conscious/unconscious would seem to be a binary property, 
but it's 
hard to believe (though not impossible) that there would be one circuit, neuron 
or line of 
code that makes the difference between conscious and unconscious.

Stathis Papaioannou
_________________________________________________________________
Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail.
http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Everything List" group.
To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Reply via email to