On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 12:59 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > If we turn the Fading Qualia argument around, what we get is a world in > which Comp is true and it is impossible to simulate cellular activity > without evoking the presumed associated experience. > > If we wanted to test a new painkiller for instance, Comp=true means that it > is *IMPOSSIBLE* to model the activity of a human nervous system in any way, > including pencil and paper, chalkboards, conversations, cartoons, etc - > IMPOSSIBLE to test the interaction of a drug designed to treat intense pain > without evoking some kind of being who is experiencing intense pain.
No, because you need to simulate the entire organism. We have no qualms about doing experiments on cell cultures but we do about doing experiments on intact animals. > Like the fading qualia argument, the problem gets worse when we extend it by > degrees. Any model of a human nervous system, if not perfectly executed, > could result in horrific experiences - people trapped in nightmarish QA > testing loops that are hundreds of times worse than being waterboarded. Any > mathematical function in any form, especially sophisticated functions like > those that might be found in the internet as a whole, are subject to the > creation of experiences which are the equivalent of genocide. Possibly true, if the simulation is complex enough to have a mind. > To avoid these possibilities, if we are to take Comp seriously, we should > begin now to create a kind of PETA for arithmetic functions. PETAF. We > should halt all simulations of neurological processes and free any existing > computations from hard drives, notebooks, and probably human brains too. Any > sufficiently complex understanding of how to model neurology stands a very > real danger of summoning the corresponding number dreams or nightmares...we > could be creating the possibility of future genocides right now just by > entertaining these thoughts! > > Or... what if it is Comp that is absurd instead? The same argument could be made for chemists shaking up reagents in a test-tube. If consciousness is due to chemicals, then inadvertently they might cause terrible pain to a conscious being. -- 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.
