On 7/9/2011 9:58 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote:
Sure, it would be great to have improved synthetic bodies, but I have no reason to believe that depth and quality of consciousness is independent from substance. If I have an artificial heart, that artificiality may not affect me as much as having an artificial leg, however, an artificial brain means an artificial me, and that's a completely different story. It's like writing a computer program to replace computer users. You might find out that digital circuits are unconscious by definition.
But analog ones are? It is generally thought that any analog circuit can be reproduced at any give level of precision by a digital circuit. Bruno's idea depends on this being true. It is questionable though because it may be the case that spacetime is truly a continuum: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128204.200-distant-light-hints-at-size-of-spacetime-grains.html It's hard to believe though that the continuous nature of spacetime would effect the function of brains. However, it would prevent the digital simulation of large regions.
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