Brent, I think you may be reading my question in the wrong way. I didn't mean to equate your consciousness with that of every if/else decision you make, but rather ask something like, "What does the shortest possible program that is conscious look like?"
I have trouble seeing why some short piece of code like: if (x > 0) then do y() else do z(); Is not conscious of some property of x (whether it is positive or negative), at least when the two different functions y() and z() cause the program to enter different states. I find it harder to justify the consciousness of a program that did not do any selection, distinction, or inspection. In most programming languages, this is done using a conditional statement, such as an "if statement", a "while statement" or a "switch statement". Jason *** Hi Jason, What plays the role of the abstract/platonic equation "if (x > 0) then do y() else do z();" such that there is an actual referent to be conscious of? Consciousness is consciousness of ... On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 5:18 PM, Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On 5/2/2013 7:47 AM, Jason Resch wrote: >> >>> Would anyone here say that a conditional (e.g., "if/else") statement" >>> (in some program) is conscious? >>> >> >> I don't think so. We make if/else choices subconsciously all the time. >> My introspection tells me that conscious thought is a kind of narrative >> story I construct. I think the function of this is to condense my >> experience for memory and future reference when I need to plan or predict >> based on my past experience. If I were designing an intelligent Mars Rover >> that had to learn to deal with a wide variety of problems which I cannot >> anticipate, this sort of selective memory narrative would be one component >> of it's learning. >> >> Of course there are different levels of consciousness. A Mars Rover >> needs a conception of "self" as being in certain place, having completed >> certain tasks, having certain capabilities, etc. But it doesn't need to >> consider its status among peers or reflect on its own computational methods >> or its ultimate end. >> >> Brent >> >> > Brent, > > I think you may be reading my question in the wrong way. I didn't mean to > equate your consciousness with that of every if/else decision you make, but > rather ask something like, "What does the shortest possible program that is > conscious look like?" > > I have trouble seeing why some short piece of code like: > > if (x > 0) then do y() else do z(); > > Is not conscious of some property of x (whether it is positive or > negative), at least when the two different functions y() and z() cause the > program to enter different states. > > I find it harder to justify the consciousness of a program that did not do > any selection, distinction, or inspection. In most programming languages, > this is done using a conditional statement, such as an "if statement", a > "while statement" or a "switch statement". > > Jason > > > >> >> >>> I think such statements may form the atoms of consciousness, as they >>> represent the point at which a program's behavior diverges based on the >>> inspection of some information. >>> >>> Conditional statements are required for any kind of intelligent or >>> responsive behavior, which might be why consciousness correlates with it. >>> >>> Jason >>> >> >> -- >> 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 >> everything-list+unsubscribe@**googlegroups.com<everything-list%[email protected]> >> . >> >> To post to this group, send email to >> everything-list@googlegroups.**com<[email protected]> >> . >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/** >> group/everything-list?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en> >> . >> For more options, visit >> https://groups.google.com/**groups/opt_out<https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out> >> . >> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/everything-list/K7E-Vfwj4QU/unsubscribe?hl=en > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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. > > > -- 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.
