On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Stathis Papaioannou skrev: > > On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has favored > > that type of behavior. > > > > Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would > evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could have > got away without it? > > It did got away without it... ;-) >
I assure you, at least one entity in the universe is conscious: me. If evolution could have made me a zombie, it would have. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that evolution couldn't help but grant me consciousness as a side-effect or epiphenomenon, the real prize being intelligent behaviour. There are some philosophers (eg. Daniel Dennett) who would argue that consciousness is *nothing but* this intelligent behaviour, and the idea of a zombie is logically incoherent, but I'm not entirely convinced that this is right. -- Stathis Papaioannou --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
