On Wed, May 24, 2023, 9:56 PM Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Thu, 25 May 2023 at 11:48, Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > > >An RNG would be a bad design choice because it would be extremely >> unreliable. However, as a thought experiment, it could work. If the visual >> cortex were removed and replaced with an RNG which for five minutes >> replicated the interactions with the remaining brain, the subject would >> behave as if they had normal vision and report that they had normal vision, >> then after five minutes behave as if they were blind and report that they >> were blind. It is perhaps contrary to intuition that the subject would >> really have visual experiences in that five minute period, but I don't >> think there is any other plausible explanation. >> > >> I think they would be a visual zombie in that five minute period, though >> as described they would not be able to report any difference. >> >> I think if one's entire brain were replaced by an RNG, they would be a >> total zombie who would fool us into thinking they were conscious and we >> would not notice a difference. So by extension a brain partially replaced >> by an RNG would be a partial zombie that fooled the other parts of the >> brain into thinking nothing was amiss. >> > > I think the concept of a partial zombie makes consciousness nonsensical. > It borders on the nonsensical, but between the two bad alternatives I find the idea of a RNG instantiating human consciousness somewhat less sensical than the idea of partial zombies. How would I know that I am not a visual zombie now, or a visual zombie > every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday? > Here, we have to be careful what we mean by "I". Our own brains have various spheres of consciousness as demonstrated by the Wada Test: we can shut down one hemisphere of the brain and lose partial awareness and functionality such as the ability to form words and yet one remains conscious. I think being a partial zombie would be like that, having one's sphere of awareness shrink. What is the advantage of having "real" visual experiences if they make no > objective difference and no subjective difference either? > The advantage of real computations (which imply having real awareness/experiences) is that real computations are more reliable than RNGs for producing intelligent behavioral responses. 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUj5O4vwxKjOC60cORyU7qHxM5HsQo-9xDFogiYwBZ9mtA%40mail.gmail.com.
