Re: Asifism

2007-06-07 Thread Torgny Tholerus





Bruno Marchal skrev:
Le 04-juin-07,  14:10, Torgny Tholerus a crit :
  
  Pain is the same thing as the pain center in the brain
being
stimulated. 
  
If you are really unconscious or not conscious, you could say this,
indeed, but I hardly believe you are unconscious.
  
In the best case your theory will work for you and other "zombie". It
cannot work for those who admit the 1/3 distinction or the mind/body
apparent distinction.
  
You are on the fringe of being an eliminativist philosopher. What I do
appreciate is that you offer your theory for yourself. Let me ask you
explicitly this question, which I admit is admittedly weird to ask to
a zombie, but: do you think *we* are conscious?
  

I am constructed in such a way (my brain connections is such that...) I
very strongly claim that I am conscious, I very strongly claim that I
have feelings, I very strongly claim that I have a mind, I very
strongly claim that I have perceptions. But I know (intellectually)
that I am wrong, and I know why I am wrong.

When I look at you (in 3rd person view), I see that you are constructed
in exactly the same way as I am. So I know why you say that you are
conscious. I know nothing sure about you, but the most probable
conclusion is that you are equally unconscious as I am.

What is the philosophical term for persons like me, that totally deny
the existence of the consciousness?
(I also deny the existence of infinity...)

-- 
Torgny Tholerus


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-07 Thread Jef Allbright

On 6/7/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  What is the philosophical term for persons like me, that totally deny the
 existence of the consciousness?
  (I also deny the existence of infinity...)

Um, refreshingly rational?  Pleasingly parsimonious?  :-)

- Jef

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Re: Asifism

2007-06-07 Thread Quentin Anciaux

Hello,

like I said before you are just turning the meaning of consciousness to mean 
whatever you think you're not.

Knowing something implies consciousness, if you're not conscious, you 
can't know anything.

Quentin

On Thursday 07 June 2007 15:47:35 Torgny Tholerus wrote:
  Bruno Marchal skrev:
 Le 04-juin-07, à 14:10, Torgny Tholerus a écrit :

 Pain is the same thing as the pain center in the brain being stimulated.

  If you are really unconscious or not conscious, you could say this,
 indeed, but I hardly believe you are unconscious. In the best case your
 theory will work for you and other zombie. It cannot work for those who
 admit the 1/3 distinction or the mind/body apparent distinction. You are on
 the fringe of being an eliminativist philosopher. What I do appreciate is
 that you offer your theory for yourself. Let me ask you explicitly this
 question, which I admit is admittedly weird to ask to a zombie, but: do you
 think *we* are conscious?

  I am constructed in such a way (my brain connections is such that...) I
 very strongly claim that I am conscious, I very strongly claim that I have
 feelings, I very strongly claim that I have a mind, I very strongly claim
 that I have perceptions.  But I know (intellectually) that I am wrong, and
 I know why I am wrong.

  When I look at you (in 3rd person view), I see that you are constructed in
 exactly the same way as I am.  So I know why you say that you are
 conscious.  I know nothing sure about you, but the most probable conclusion
 is that you are equally unconscious as I am.

  What is the philosophical term for persons like me, that totally deny the
 existence of the consciousness? (I also deny the existence of infinity...)

  --
  Torgny Tholerus


  


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-07 Thread John Mikes
As we said it in Hungary: let the 'bartender' talk into it...
*
I feel it is a vague metaphor to have 'brain centers stimulated'-  HOW? - as
persuaded them to do something? There are physiologic activities translated
(somewhere, somehow) into mental events and so far we know(?) about electric
connections. But wait: before I try to express my ignorance of what (how) to
identify as consciousness (even, maybe 'conscious') - Galvani's frog legs
were not attached to the braincells and reacted to the 'pain' of the
electric shock. That goes back a step from crying 'OUCH' upon an electric
shock. So, while I do not deny the role of the 'pain centers', I cannot
assign their exclusivity in the process either. My view is complexity of
which both brain tissues, functions, mentality and the ambiance of the body
(human etc. 'live' beings) is interactively involved - and we are pretty far
from understanding HOW and: What else? We are not singularities, not our
mind, not our body - which could be envisioned (I didn't even dare say:
 understood) independently by themselves.  Not even in THEIR (separated)
interaction.
Whatever we find is useful, unless we consider it as ALL of it.
*
I like Bruno's hint(?) about 'ethics' - I never had a reasonable idea what
may work in it, unless I identified it with the 'culture-related' morality.
I still question the sole effect of such ethics upon myself,. it would be a
very selfish ethics. May it be extended to include pain-centers' stimulus of
3rd persons???
*
Torgny wrote: If you are really unconscious or not conscious, you could say
this,
indeed, but I hardly believe you are unconscious
As that arbitrary approach to consciousness goes in my mind (I consider it a
historical noumenon applied bt diverse authors to fit their theory) it
includes a mental side: awareness and direction of the body, response to
information we get. Total 'unconsciousness' is death. In anesthetic one
still controls not even the smooth muscles, but reflexes as well and a lot
more. Other things may be suspended (as on vacation), e.g. memory. When I
woke up after appendectomy I continued tp be angry: I argued angrily FOR
being put out instead of a local anesthetics. 'Conscious also has levels,
some within full awareness, some (partly?) hidden, yet within the active
mentality effects.
We use these words as they 'fit' what we want to express (as all others).
The yearly Tucsan Int'l. Conferences on 'Consciousness' (I follow them since
1991) still could not agree in definitions.
To the question:  do you think *we* are conscious? my unsolicited answer
is: we can write defkinitions by which yes and ofher definitions by which
no and don't forget the intermedietes.
*
Bruno mixes acting with feeling. Actors 'feel' the paycheck and play - as
if. No fMRI involved for the role they simulate by the outside visible.
Even 'good actors' go on;y as far as the secondary phenomena of their
role-playing are involved. No actor died by the character's heart attack.
Only  if they had their own - personal, not acted -  illness. I was an
actor in my last job when the  international management made - in my
scientific thinking  - 'bad' decisions: I complied and had the next paycheck
in mind, reminding myself that I don't 'own' the company. Did not 'fire'
myself.
*
I still want to make some appreciative remarks to the asifism, but this
one goes to Bruno's post.

John M


On 6/6/07, Bruno Marchal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 Le 04-juin-07, à 14:10, Torgny Tholerus a écrit :
   Bruno Marchal skrev:
  Le 01-juin-07, à 18:47, Torgny Tholerus a écrit :
 
  When I am tortured, my pain center in my brain will be stimulated.
  This
  will cause me to try to avoid this situation (being tortured).  One
  (good) way to archive this is to start talking about ethics.  If I
  can
  make other human beings to believe that it is ethically wrong to
  torture objects, that behave as if they were conscious, then the
  probability that somebody will torture me decreases.
 
  But if me is not conscious, why should us try to diminish that
  probability?
 
   My brain is constructed in such a way, that if my pain center is
  stimulated, then I will not repeat those action that caused the pain
  center to be stimulated.  (And if my lust center is stimulated, then I
  will repeat those actions that caused my lust center to be
  stimulated.)  My neurons in my brain are interconnected in such a way,
  causing this behavoiur.

 All right.

  This is all ethics is about: Trying to avoid stimulating the pain
  center
  in our brains.
 
  Could pain exist without consciousness?
  Do you agree that the sensation of pain is different from acting like
  if having that sensation of pain?
  If not movie actors would complain!
 
   Pain is the same thing as the pain center in the brain being
  stimulated.

 If you are really unconscious or not conscious, you could say this,
 indeed, but I hardly believe you are unconscious.
 In the best case your theory will work for you and 

Re: Asifism

2007-06-04 Thread Torgny Tholerus





Bruno Marchal skrev:

  Le 01-juin-07,  18:47, Torgny Tholerus a crit :
  
  When I am tortured, my pain center in my
brain will be stimulated. 
This
will cause me to try to avoid this situation (being tortured).  One
(good) way to archive this is to start talking about "ethics".  If I 
can
make other human beings to "believe" that it is ethically wrong to
torture objects, that behave as if they were conscious, then the
probability that somebody will torture me decreases.

  
  But if "me" is not conscious, why should us try to diminish that 
probability?
  

My brain is constructed in such a way, that if my pain center is
stimulated, then I will not repeat those action that caused the pain
center to be stimulated. (And if my lust center is stimulated, then I
will repeat those actions that caused my lust center to be
stimulated.) My neurons in my brain are interconnected in such a way,
causing this behavoiur.

  
  
This is all ethics is about: Trying to avoid stimulating the pain 
center
in our brains.

  
  Could pain exist without consciousness?
Do you agree that the sensation of pain is different from acting like 
if having that sensation of pain?
If not movie actors would complain!
  

Pain is the same thing as the pain center in the brain being
stimulated. When movie actors behave as if they were feeling pain,
then it is not pain, because their pain center in their brains are not
being stimulated. Only their outer behaviour is the same, inside their
brains there will be different.

-- 
Torgny Tholerus


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-02 Thread Bruno Marchal


Le 01-juin-07, à 18:47, Torgny Tholerus a écrit :


 Bruno Marchal skrev:
 One more question: supposing you are correct, is it ethically wrong to
 torture you? Is it ethically wrong to torture an entity without
 consciousness (supposing we could be sure of that) even if it acts
 like it was conscious?
 This is an interesting question.  And the answer is:

 When I am tortured, my pain center in my brain will be stimulated.  
 This
 will cause me to try to avoid this situation (being tortured).  One
 (good) way to archive this is to start talking about ethics.  If I 
 can
 make other human beings to believe that it is ethically wrong to
 torture objects, that behave as if they were conscious, then the
 probability that somebody will torture me decreases.


But if me is not conscious, why should us try to diminish that 
probability?




 This is all ethics is about: Trying to avoid stimulating the pain 
 center
 in our brains.


Could pain exist without consciousness?
Do you agree that the sensation of pain is different from acting like 
if having that sensation of pain?
If not movie actors would complain!



  By the way, are you more sure about proton than about your belief in 
 proton? What would that mean?

  I look at myself in the third person view.  I then see a lot of 
 protons reacting with eachother, and I see how they explain my 
 behavior and the words I produce.  I see how they cause me saying I 
 am conscious!  I have a free will!  I am happy!.  This is all that 
 is.  This explains everything.


Assuming materialism it could explain everything describable at the 
third person. Assuming comp, it cannot even explain neutron, which is 
most probably a first person plural construct (not a human one, but I 
guess a lobian one: it is far more general).

If you assume eliminativist materialism, then you would be right in 
case you are indeed a zombie, something which, frankly, I doubt.

Self-referentially correct machines disagree with you, they can already 
distinguish first person and third person notions and other nuances.

Bruno




http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-02 Thread Quentin Anciaux

Hi,

I'd say that I'm more sure of my own existence than anything else.
Even if consciousness is an illusion, this illusion still is and need 
explanation... This illusion ask question about herself I can hear my 
thought, saying the're not real will not make them disappear.

Quentin

On Friday 01 June 2007 14:35:23 Torgny Tholerus wrote:
  I am unconscious.
 I have no mind.  I have no feelings.  I have no perceptions.  I am not
 thinking.  I am just a machine that claims that I am conscious.  The only
 thing that happens is a lot of chemical reactions in my brain.  (Or rather,
 there are a lot of mathematical relations...)

 I just behave AS IF I am conscious.  If you interview me, I will answer
 that I am conscious.  I will strongly claim that I am thinking, and that is
 the only thing I am really sure of.

 But that is a lie.  The only thing that exists is a lot of protons,
 neutrons, and electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.

 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has favored
 that type of behavior. --
  Torgny Tholerus


  


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-02 Thread Pete Carlton


On Jun 1, 2007, at 6:53 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:

 I assure you, at least one entity in the universe is conscious: me.  
 If evolution could have made me a zombie, it would have. Therefore,  
 it seems reasonable to assume that evolution couldn't help but  
 grant me consciousness as a side-effect or epiphenomenon, the real  
 prize being intelligent behaviour. snip

I'm with Dennett too, and I'll bring up the point he made about this  
epiphenomenon view of consciousness that keeps cropping up. The  
point is that whatever consciousness is, it cannot be  
epiphenomenal in the philosophical sense of having no physical  
effects. I'll put it this way: your hands and fingers are physical  
objects. When they move, that is a physical event. Whatever causes  
them to move, is also a physical event. When you type the words I am  
conscious, that is also a physical event. If you think that your  
consciousness is epiphenomenal, you must believe that your being  
conscious has nothing whatever to do with your typing the words I  
am conscious. It's just a coincidence! The same goes for whatever  
makes you say I am conscious. If you really think consciousness  
is epiphenomenal, you must endorse something like this:
I know I'm conscious (for whatever reason). And, for some totally  
unrelated reasons having nothing whatever to do with the fact that  
I'm conscious, I also say that I'm conscious.



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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Stathis Papaioannou
On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I am unconscious.

 I have no mind.  I have no feelings.  I have no perceptions.  I am not
 thinking.  I am just a machine that claims that I am conscious.  The only
 thing that happens is a lot of chemical reactions in my brain.  (Or
 rather, there are a lot of mathematical relations...)

 I just behave AS IF I am conscious.  If you interview me, I will answer
 that I am conscious.  I will strongly claim that I am thinking, and that
 is the only thing I am really sure of.

 But that is a lie.  The only thing that exists is a lot of protons,
 neutrons, and electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.

 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has favored
 that type of behavior.


Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would
evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could have
got away without it?


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou

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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Torgny Tholerus





Stathis Papaioannou skrev:

  On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  
  
  
I behave AS IF I am conscious
because the natural
selection
has favored that type of behavior.
  
  
Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would
evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could
have got away without it?
  
  
  

It did got away without it... ;-)

-- 
Torgny Tholerus


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Stathis Papaioannou
On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Stathis Papaioannou skrev:

 On 01/06/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has favored
  that type of behavior.
 

 Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would
 evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could have
 got away without it?

 It did got away without it...  ;-)


I assure you, at least one entity in the universe is conscious: me. If
evolution could have made me a zombie, it would have. Therefore, it seems
reasonable to assume that evolution couldn't help but grant me consciousness
as a side-effect or epiphenomenon, the real prize being intelligent
behaviour. There are some philosophers (eg. Daniel Dennett) who would argue
that consciousness is *nothing but* this intelligent behaviour, and the idea
of a zombie is logically incoherent, but I'm not entirely convinced that
this is right.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou

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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread John Mikes
Torgny: [[cute]]

SAIS  W H O 

I found Stathis' reply before I read your tirade. I agree and add:  I think
you 'are' a typical 'voter'.
(in the political sense).

Have a life!

John M

On 6/1/07, Torgny Tholerus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I am unconscious.

 I have no mind.  I have no feelings.  I have no perceptions.  I am not
 thinking.  I am just a machine that claims that I am conscious.  The only
 thing that happens is a lot of chemical reactions in my brain.  (Or
 rather, there are a lot of mathematical relations...)

 I just behave AS IF I am conscious.  If you interview me, I will answer
 that I am conscious.  I will strongly claim that I am thinking, and that
 is the only thing I am really sure of.

 But that is a lie.  The only thing that exists is a lot of protons,
 neutrons, and electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.

 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has favored
 that type of behavior.
 --
 Torgny Tholerus


 -


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Bruno Marchal

Le 01-juin-07, à 14:35, Torgny Tholerus a écrit :

  I am unconscious.

 I have no mind.  I have no feelings.  I have no perceptions.  I am not 
 thinking.  I am just a machine that claims that I am conscious.  The 
 only thing that happens is a lot of chemical reactions in my brain. 
  (Or rather, there are a lot of mathematical relations...)

 I just behave AS IF I am conscious.  If you interview me, I will 
 answer that I am conscious.  I will strongly claim that I am thinking, 
 and that is the only thing I am really sure of.

 But that is a lie. 


If you are unconscious, you should have said that  it is WRONG, not 
that it is a lie. That would contradict your unconsciousness. By 
saying lie you did betray your consciousness, imo.
Also, by saying I am not conscious, are you sure that you behave like 
if you were conscious?


 The only thing that exists is a lot of protons, neutrons, and 
 electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.


Are you *sure*?
By the way, are you more sure about proton than about your belief in 
proton? What would that mean?




 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has 
 favored that type of behavior.


OK, but this rise the question: why?

Another question: if consciousness does not exist, what do you  mean by 
behaving AS IF I am conscious?

(but thanks you for actually saying this only about yourself and not us 
:)

One more question: supposing you are correct, is it ethically wrong to 
torture you? Is it ethically wrong to torture an entity without 
consciousness (supposing we could be sure of that) even if it acts like 
it was conscious?


Bruno


http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/

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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Torgny Tholerus

Bruno Marchal skrev:
 One more question: supposing you are correct, is it ethically wrong to 
 torture you? Is it ethically wrong to torture an entity without 
 consciousness (supposing we could be sure of that) even if it acts 
 like it was conscious?
This is an interesting question.  And the answer is:

When I am tortured, my pain center in my brain will be stimulated.  This 
will cause me to try to avoid this situation (being tortured).  One 
(good) way to archive this is to start talking about ethics.  If I can 
make other human beings to believe that it is ethically wrong to 
torture objects, that behave as if they were conscious, then the 
probability that somebody will torture me decreases.

This is all ethics is about: Trying to avoid stimulating the pain center 
in our brains.

-- 
Torgny Tholerus



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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Torgny Tholerus





Bruno Marchal skrev:
Le 01-juin-07,  14:35, Torgny Tholerus a crit :
  
  
  The only thing that exists is a lot of protons, neutrons,
and
electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.
  
Are you *sure*?
  
By the way, are you more sure about proton than about your belief in
proton? What would that mean?
  


I look at myself in the third person view. I then see a lot of protons
reacting with eachother, and I see how they explain my behavior and the
words I produce. I see how they cause me saying "I am conscious! I
have a free will! I am happy!". This is all that is. This explains
everything.

-- 
Torgny Tholerus


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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Brent Meeker

Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
 
 
 On 01/06/07, *Torgny Tholerus* [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 I am unconscious.
 
 I have no mind.  I have no feelings.  I have no perceptions.  I am
 not thinking.  I am just a machine that claims that I am conscious. 
 The only thing that happens is a lot of chemical reactions in my
 brain.  (Or rather, there are a lot of mathematical relations...)
 
 I just behave AS IF I am conscious.  If you interview me, I will
 answer that I am conscious.  I will strongly claim that I am
 thinking, and that is the only thing I am really sure of.
 
 But that is a lie.  The only thing that exists is a lot of protons,
 neutrons, and electrons reacting with each other inside my brain.
 
 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection has
 favored that type of behavior.
 
 
 Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would 
 evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could 
 have got away without it?
 
 
 -- 
 Stathis Papaioannou

How do you know it was trouble - maybe it's a probable spandrel, or maybe 
it's even a necessary effect.

Brent Meeker

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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Brent Meeker

Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
 
 
 On 01/06/07, *Torgny Tholerus* [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 Stathis Papaioannou skrev:
 On 01/06/07, *Torgny Tholerus* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I behave AS IF I am conscious because the natural selection
 has favored that type of behavior.


 Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why
 would evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious
 if it could have got away without it?
 It did got away without it...  ;-)
 
 
 I assure you, at least one entity in the universe is conscious: me. If 
 evolution could have made me a zombie, it would have. Therefore, it 
 seems reasonable to assume that evolution couldn't help but grant me 
 consciousness as a side-effect or epiphenomenon, the real prize being 
 intelligent behaviour. There are some philosophers (eg. Daniel Dennett) 
 who would argue that consciousness is *nothing but* this intelligent 
 behaviour, and the idea of a zombie is logically incoherent, but I'm not 
 entirely convinced that this is right.
 -- 
 Stathis Papaioannou

I'm with Dennett, except that I think logic is to weak a tool to rule out 
zombies.  It would require proving a contradiction from X acts like a 
conscious human and X is not conscious.  But all you really need is to show 
it's nomologically impossible - i.e. would imply a violation of presumed 
scientific knowledge.  I think that may be possible.

Brent Meeker



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Re: Asifism

2007-06-01 Thread Stathis Papaioannou
On 02/06/07, Brent Meeker [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Which implies you really are conscious, because otherwise why would
  evolution have gone to the trouble of making *me* conscious if it could
  have got away without it?
 
 
  --
  Stathis Papaioannou

 How do you know it was trouble - maybe it's a probable spandrel, or
 maybe it's even a necessary effect.


That was the point I was trying to make: if it was any trouble, we wouldn't
have it. So it probably is a spandrel or necessary side-effect of
conscious-like behaviour.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou

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