On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 3:44 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
>> No, it doesn't mean that at all. If the billion people interact so as >> to mimic the behaviour of the neurons in a brain, resulting in the >> ability to (for example) converse in natural language, then the idea >> is that the billion-person brain would have consciousness. This >> consciousness would have nothing to do with the consciousness of the >> billion people producing it; I don't know what my neurons are doing >> and my neurons individually certainly don't know what I am doing. > > > You are confirming what I have said. You are saying that a billion people > doing the appropriate computations on paper with pencils and erasers and > telephones to talk to each other would create a magical personality that > nobody would know about but nonetheless would be born into the universe as a > thinking, feeling, eating, crapping being. This being is literally made out > of nothing at all except the fact of these computations taking place > somewhere...but where? You say not in the consciousness of the brains of the > people, so where? In the lead of the pencils on paper? In the signals of the > telephone calls? Why is this new being local to this process? How is it > attached to the computation-ness? If neurons can give rise to thinking beings then why can't billions of people? What essential quality do the neurons have that people lack? -- 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.
