On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Yes, the Big Bang is a program. There are initial conditions and rules >> that lead deterministically to the unfolding of the entire multiverse >> and all its rich content. All of science is an effort to work out >> details of the algorithm. > > > Then you have a infinite regress. How did the rules get there? A > programmatic meta-big bang? Are you asking who made the universe? A possible answer is that all possible universes exist and we find ourselves in one of those that has the kind of physical laws leading to observers. >> > There is nothing that they 'want' or don't want to do. >> >> So you say, but the computers could say the same of you. > > > They are welcome to. Hey computer! You suck! Insult me! > > But they don't say anything that is beyond their scripted parameters. Not > ever. That's because they are machines. Basically an elaborate collection of > springloaded dominoes. There's nothing there to want anything except to fall > or spring back up. If a collection of spring-loaded dominoes becomes so complex that you can't understand it or predict what it's going to do next, you will have to be careful what you say to it. >> Which is why it appears that consciousness is epiphenomenal; if it >> were not then we would be zombies. > > > You don't need zombies when you have puppets. Zombies gives an inanimate > object way too much credit. I'm not sure why you prefer "puppet" to "zombie" but if they mean the same thing, OK. >> By epiphenomenal I mean a necessary side-effect of the type of >> intelligent behaviour putatively conscious organisms display. > > > It's a contradiction to expect that a universe can be based entirely in > necessity and then to imagine that there could be some kind of side effect > which is in some way pseudo-experiential. It is sawing off the branch you > are sitting on. Your argument is an epiphenomenon - a necessary side > effect...of what? When you place three spheres together so that they are touching you create a triangle. The triangle is a necessary side-effect of putting the spheres together in that way. When you create a system that perceives, responds, perceives its own response, adjusts its response, etc. you have a system that is conscious. The consciousness is a necessary side-effect of such a system. Now, you don't like this idea but what's wrong with it apart from that? It's a minimal explanation and it's consistent with all the facts. -- 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.
