On Mon, Jul 08, 2024 at 04:34:56PM -0400, Jason Resch wrote: > > > On Mon, Jul 8, 2024, 4:04 PM John Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Mon, Jul 8, 2024 at 2:12 PM Jason Resch <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >Consciousness is a prerequisite of intelligence. > > > I think you've got that backwards, intelligence is a prerequisite of > consciousness. And the possibility of intelligent ACTIONS is a > prerequisite for Darwinian natural selection to have evolved it. > > > I disagree, but will explain below. > > > > > > One can be conscious without being intelligent, > > > Sure. > > > I define intelligence by something capable of intelligent action. > > Intelligent action requires non random choice: choice informed by information > from the environment. > > Having information about the environment (i.e. perceptions) is consciousness. > You cannot have perceptions without there being some process or thing to > perceive them. > > Therefore perceptions (i.e. consciousness) is a requirement and precondition > of > being able to perform intelligent actions. > > Jason
By this definition, thermostats are conscious. This could be a definitional debate, but I do disagree. For me, a consious entity is aware if its place in the world. At a minimum, it must have a self/other distinction (does that mean immune systems are conscious?), but I strongly suspect it involves some notion of self-awareness. I struggle to come with an example of a non-self-aware consciousness. OTOH, consciousness needn't necessarily imply intelligence, but perhaps it does. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders [email protected] http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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/20240808011804.GA12703%40zen.
