On Sep 14, 1:34 pm, Evgenii Rudnyi <[email protected]> wrote: > > I would agree that it would easy to obtain thinking provided that > perception is there. This is though an open question, what does it mean > perception by a robot. Does for example an automatic door perceive? >
Exactly. That's why I think it's helpful to have more of graduated hierarchy of elaboration, loosely: detection > sense > feeling > awareness > consciousness. These would correspond roughly to: molecular, cellular, somatic, neurological, and psychological levels of perception. Since neither the sensor or motor of the automatic door has any cells, it is limited to a molecular level of perception: detection. The sensor and motor detects what it is design to detect as a simple binary state change in a group of molecules and passes that state change on by charging a wire to the motor, which also detects a binary change in it's group of molecules that it amplifies and induces as motive force on the molecules of door. There doesn't seem to be anything else going on except the most primitive form of physical detection and action. Zero room for interpretation. If you have a group of plants in a greenhouse, some of them are going to grow better than others. They sense the light, which we can intuitively understand by their appearance of thriving or withering. It seems like something might care whether it's getting what it needs. Whether it 'feels' or not is along the same lines as asking whether a plant has a 'body' or not. Then answer, in both cases, I think is 'sort of'. Whatever it has seems to be more than a bucket of ammonia and less than rabbit. It's a bit blurry what makes a rabbit seem more like it has a body and 'feels more' than a plant, and indeed there is no way to know for sure, but I think it's reasonable to go with the gut feeling that if I run over a rabbit I would feel worse than running over a plant and I wouldn't feel anything about running over a piece of metal. Craig -- 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.
