On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 4:23 PM, Stephen Paul King <[email protected] > wrote:
> 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? > In my example, I was referring to any implementation of such a program, e.g. your own computer. > Consciousness is consciousness of ... > > There is no infinite regression, the program is conscious of some property of x, not conscious of its own knowledge of the property of x (in this example code). Consider it as consciousness of a raw qualia like seeing one pixel of white instead of one pixel of black. Jason > > 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. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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