Sorry about the previous post... I did it from the the Google list....something weird happened. ---------------------------------------
Hi folks, Re: How would a computer know if it were conscious? Easy. The computer would be able to go head to head with a human in a competition. The competition? Do science on exquisite novelty that neither party had encountered. (More interesting: Make their life depend on getting it right. The survivors are conscious). Only conscious entities can do open ended science on the exquisitely novel. You cannot teach something how to deal with the exquisitely novel because you haven't any experience of it to teach. It means that the entity must be configurted as a machine that "learns how to learn something". This is one meta-level removed from your usual AI situation. It's what humans do. During neogenesis and development, humans 'learn how to learn how to learn". If the computer/scientist can match the human/scientist...it's as conscious as a human. It must be. cheers colin hales --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---