On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 11:52 AM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
>> You're avoiding the question. What is your definitive test for >> consciousness? If you don't have one, then you have to admit that your >> friend (who talks to you and behaves like people do, not in a coma, >> not on a video recording, not dead in the morgue) may not be conscious >> and your computer may be conscious. > > > No, you are avoiding my answer. What is your definitive test for your own > consciousness? The test for my own consciousness is that I feel I am conscious. That is not at issue. At issue is the test for *other* entities' consciousness. You are convinced that computers and other machines don't have consciousness, but you can't say what test you will apply to them and see them fail. > My point is that sense is broader, deeper, and more primitive than our > cognitive ability to examine it, since cognitive qualities are only the tip > of the iceberg of sense. To test is to circumvent direct sense in favor of > indirect sense - which is a good thing, but it is by definition not > applicable to consciousness itself in any way. There is no test to tell if > you are conscious, because none is required. If you need to ask if you are > conscious, then you are probably having a lucid dream or in some phase of > shock. In those cases, no test will help you as you can dream a test result > as easily as you can experience one while awake. > > The only test for consciousness is the test of time. If you are fooled by > some inanimate object, eventually you will probably see through it or > outgrow the fantasy. So if, in future, robots live among us for years and are accepted by most people as conscious, does that mean they are conscious? This is essentially a form of the Turing test. >> You talk with authority on what >> can and can't have consciousness but it seems you don't have even an >> operational definition of the word. > > > Consciousness is what defines, not what can be defined. > >> I am not asking for an explanation >> or theory of consciousness, just for a test to indicate its presence, >> which is a much weaker requirement. > > > That is too much to ask, since all tests supervene upon the consciousness to > evaluate results. It's the case for any test that you will use your consciousness to evaluate the results. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
