On 30 March 2015 at 11:43, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > On 29 March 2015 at 19:25, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> But isn't it the case that your brain evolved/learned to interpret and be >> conscious of these stimuli only because it exists in the context of this >> world? > > > That would be the anthropic explanation of why we find ourselves the people > we are, certainly. I think comp simply requires consciousness to exist, then > the anthropic reasoning shows that we're most likely to find ourselves > existing in a particular type of state (rather than as Boltzman brains, I > assume) >> >> >> The question as posed by Bruno, is whether you will say yes to the doctor >> replacing part of your brain with a digital device that has the connections >> to the rest of your brain/body and which implements the same input/output >> function for those connections. Would that leave your consciousness >> unchanged? >> > This is a MORE interesting question in some ways than Bruno's "yes doctor" - > would you, with a partial brain replacement,experience reduced consciousness > in some sense - e.g. fading qualia? Personally, I imagine not (after all the > brain is already modularised, so presumably it already has internal > interfaces).
Fading qualia in the setting of normal behaviour, if logically possible, would destroy the common idea of consciousness that we have. It would mean, for example, that you could have gone blind last week but not realise it. You would look at a painting, describe the painting, have an emotional response to the painting - but lack any visual experience of the painting. If that is possible, what meaning is left to attribute to the word "qualia"? -- 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
