On Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 10:00:13 AM UTC-5, Alan Grayson wrote: > > > > On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 12:14:14 PM UTC-6, Brent wrote: >> >> >> >> On 9/18/2019 3:02 AM, Alan Grayson wrote: >> > I think he means one can replace a human brain and/or nervous system >> > with computer microchips and consciousness will be preserved, or >> > perfectly simulated so the person who says "Yes doctor", will awake >> > from the surgery thinking he/she's the same person, like awakening >> > from unremarkable surgery. From my pov, this belief is a huge, huge >> > stretch since we can even define what consciousness IS. >> >> Define in terms of what? We define it ostensively. How would it help >> to define it in words? >> >> Brent >> > > I think you've nailed the problem. We don't know how to define > "consciousness". In terms of what? Presumably it's properties, as we define > other entities in physics, such as the electron. Who was the SC justice who > said you know pornography when you see it, but you can't define it prior to > the observation? So far, the most we can say about consciousness, that is, > its properties, is that it's self-referential. AG >
On defining 'electron', of course some say https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1984qtg..book...66D/abstract Particles do not Exist <https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/> - Davies, P. C. W. <https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/?q=author%3A%22Davies%2C+P.+C.+W.%22> Abstract The concept of a particle is purely an idealized model of some utility in flat space quantum field theory. Away from that limited context, however, the concept becomes much less useful and has been the source of much confusion. The study of DeWitt-style particle detectors has exposed the nebulousness of the particle concept and suggests that it should be abandoned completely. @philipthrift -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/97762695-da5f-4d39-866a-87df29853c2e%40googlegroups.com.
