2015-02-04 9:10 GMT+01:00 meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net>: > On 2/3/2015 11:46 PM, Quentin Anciaux wrote: > > > > 2015-02-04 7:43 GMT+01:00 meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net>: > >> On 2/3/2015 9:12 PM, Jason Resch wrote: >> >> Well the question "is something conscious?" is binary, like "is >>> something alive?". However there is a great spectrum of possible living >>> entities, and a massive gulf that separates the simplest life forms from >>> the most complex life forms. I think the same is true of consciousness. The >>> mars rover might be conscious, but its consciousness might be as simple as >>> a bacterium's biology is compared to a human's. >>> >>> >>> That seems inconsistent with being "binary", like "being alive". >>> First, being alive isn't "binary". Are viruses alive? Prions? >>> Cigarettes? >>> >> >> Any of those things are either alive or they aren't (according to some >> theory of liveness). >> >> >> So you simply define "alive" to be all or nothing by invoking some >> "theory of liveness" - however arbitrarily you have to draw the line. Not >> a very defensible position. >> >> > But wherever is the line... there is a line between dead or alive, if > there wasn't, then everything is alive... emptying the alive concept... > same thing for consciousness. > > > There is a line between black and white, if there wasn't then everything > is black. >
But there is a line, there is pure black, and pure white, pure white is not at all black, and pure black is not at all white... everything in between is in between, but there is *pure* black and white, so if you're not pure black, you're not pure black... > Or is everything white? Do you only want to draw lines to define words, > or do you want use words to discuss concepts? Are viri alive? Are prions > alive? > Like the example of Jason, there is 0 or positive numbers, no positive number is null... it's a pure or... you cannot be a something 0, it's either 0 or bigger... Same thing with consciousness, you're either conscious whatever level, or you're not... Quentin > > Brent > > -- > 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+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. (Roy Batty/Rutger Hauer) -- 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+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
