On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 10:45 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
> It's not about whether other cells would sense the imposter neuron, > it's > about how much of an imposter the neuron is. If acts like a real cell > in > every physical way, if another organism can kill it and eat it > and > metabolize it completely then you pretty much have a cell. Whatever > cannot > be metabolized in that way is what potentially detracts from the > ability to > sustain consciousness. It's not your cells that need to sense DNA, > it's the > question of whether a brain composed entirely of, or significantly of > cells > lacking DNA would be conscious in the same way as a > person. DNA doesn't play a direct role in neuronal to neuronal interaction. It is necessary for the synthesis of proteins, so without it the neuron would be unable to, for example, produce more surface receptors or the essential proteins needed for cell survival; however, if the DNA were destroyed the neuron would carry on functioning as per usual for at least a few minutes. Now, you speculate that consciousness may somehow reside in the components of the neuron and not just in its function, so that perhaps if the DNA were destroyed the consciousness would be affected - let's say for the sake of simplicity that it too would be destroyed - even in the period the neuron was functioning normally. If that is so, then if all the neurons in your visual cortex were stripped of their DNA you would be blind: your visual qualia would disappear. But if all the neurons in your visual cortex continued to function normally, they would send the normal signals to the rest of your brain and the rest of your brain would behave as if you could see: that is, you would accurately describe objects put in front of your eyes and honestly believe that you had normal vision. So how would this state, behaving as if you had normal vision and believing you had normal vision, differ from actually having normal vision; or to put it differently, how do you know that you aren't blind and merely deluded about being able to see? -- 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.
