Rex Allen wrote: > On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 1:53 PM, Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Science advances in small steps that often depend on technology. I think >> the next 'hard' question that has some chance of being answered is, what >> information processes are necessary and sufficient to produce human-like >> conscious behavior. >> > > Does the word "conscious" really fit there? So there is the question > of how to implement a physical system that can be interpreted as > producing human-like behavior. > > And then there is the further question of whether the production of > this behavior is accompanied by "consciousness". > > I can configure physical systems in such a way that to me it > represents something. For instance I can write software to run on a > physical computer that produces outputs that to me represent "game > characters" or something. With sufficiently clever software, I may > interpret the outputs of the computer to be "behavior" that is more or > less "human-like". > > But my interpretation may be doing all the work here. I may be > deluding myself into believing that there is consciousness associated > with the actions of the physical system I call a computer...when in > fact there is no such thing there. The appearance of "conscious > behavior" in the computer could be an illusion. Probably it would be. It could be that other people are not conscious too.
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