On Wed, 28 Mar 2018 at 6:13 am, Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On 3/27/2018 5:20 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > > > > On 27 March 2018 at 09:35, Brent Meeker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> On 3/26/2018 3:19 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >> >> >> If you are not and never can be aware of it then in what sense is it >> consciousness? >> >> >> Depends on what you mean by "it". I can be aware of my consciousness, >> without being aware that it is different than it was before; just as I can >> be aware of my consciousness without knowing whether it is the same as >> yours, or the same as some robot. >> > > If I am given a brain implant to try out for a few days and I notice no > difference with the implant (everything feels exactly the same if I switch > it in or out of circuit), > > > If it is a whole brain, then switching it will also switch memories and it > will be impossible for you to say whether or not it "feels the same". > The implant replaces part of the brain (to begin with). If it’s the whole brain you could speculate that the subject would become a zombie and, by definition, not be aware of it. If it’s part of the brain the rest of the brain will immediately notice if the change is large enough. If the visual cortex is taken out by a stroke, the subject says he is blind and behaves as if he is blind. He still has some visual reflexes, such as the pupillary response to light, but he describes only what he can perceive, not visual responses per se. So if it possible to produce a cortical implant that has the normal I/O behaviour but lacks visual perception or has radically different visual perception, the subject should notice, like the stroke patient. -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
