--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote:
[snip] > There's a certain kind of mysteryunsolved and > probably insolublethat has a seductive > attraction for me. [/snip] Yes, very interesting article. Thanks. "Mysterian" - I like that. - "What are you?" - "Advaitan Tibetan Triple-Buddhist Yogi with well- developed lower absortions. You?" - "Me? Oh I am a mysterian". Yes - that'll do nicely! The problem of consciousness is sooo difficult to think about. Like lighting a match in the dark to "see" the dark... The article refers to the philosopher Nagel. Nagel I think gets it down clearly for me in his piece "What Is It Like To Be A Bat". http://www.jstor.org/pss/2183914 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nagel It goes something like this as I recall (but best to read the original!): Consider these two propositions: 1) There is such a thing as a bat (true) 2) There is such a thing as "being a bat" (true?) Quite simple if put that way. Belief in the truth of(2) is belief in consciousness. Hard core scientific materialism is in great difficulty over (2) - unless, as some would argue, all statements such as (2) are in fact false. I don't think there IS such a thing as "being my computer" (and never will be I suspect). I DO think there is such a thing as "being Barry" although I can't possibly claim certainty for that belief. Maybe I CAN claim certainty for "there is such a thing as "being Me" - a bit of Descartes' "Cogito" there... I don't think the Turing test helps. Barry may look and act in a way that is indistinguishable from a regular human being - but the question of whether there IS such a thing as "being Barry" is a fact about the world (either true or false) regardless of whether or not anyone can possibly tell.
