Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > 2009/1/15 Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> In an actual physical computer the transition rules are represented by >>> the causal links between the states, so that a particular input will >>> reliably give rise to a particular output. But I return to my question >>> about what would happen if there were a discontinuity in a sequence of >>> states, so that s1 to s10 on m1 are causally linked, s11 to s20 on m2 >>> are causally linked, but there is no link between m1 and m2, i.e. m2 >>> just happens to start in s11 accidentally. Assuming that s1 to s20 >>> occurring in a single machine results is a few moments of >>> consciousness (which is to say, assuming that computationalism is >>> true), what would happen if the sequence is broken in the way just >>> described? >> I suspect something is lost. You are thinking of the states as abstract >> steps >> in a computer program. But a computer program requires a computer to run and >> the computer implements distributed spatiotemporal links. In general you >> cannot >> take even a digitial computer and freeze it in a instant of time, call that a >> state, and restart it without any effects. Switches are in intermediate >> states, >> EM waves are propagating, electrons are diffusing - it is not a static thing >> like a step in a program. > > But the idea behind functionalism is that an equivalent program > running on completely different hardware would give rise to the same > mental states. It is hard to see how that could be possible if, for > example, the EM radiation caused by electrical switching
I'm not talking about the incidental EM radiation; I'm talking about the conduction of EM energy from one gate to another, from one part of the computer to another or in a brain the transfer of electrochemical potential down an axon. >somehow > coloured or altered the resulting mental states, for what should we > then expect from the equivalent program running on a purely mechanical > computer? But both the electronic and the mechanical computer are implementing a process that is distributed in spacetime and has causal connections. > >> In terms of Bruno's teleporter, one might say yes accepting that there would >> be >> a one-time gap in consciousness (ever had a concussion?), but one would >> probably >> hesitate if the there was to be a gap every 10ms. > > Assuming the gap did not result in accumulation of errors, a technical > problem, and assuming the environment is held constant to eliminate > 100Hz flicker, I don't see how teleportation every 10ms could alter > consciousness. I could if you lost 10ms of consciousness everytime you were teleported. Brent --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
