Re: consciousness based on information or computation?

From: Wei Dai <weidai.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 16:19:48 -0800

On Thu, Jan 14, 1999 at 08:37:17AM -0800, hal.domain.name.hidden wrote:
> The speed, number, and medium of instantiations are irrelevant.
> All that really matters is whether the program is instantiated at all.
> (I still cling to the hope that we can objectively define whether a
> given program has been instantiated, but that is another issue.)

But if everything exists, that would imply every conscious experience has
the same measure, which then implies that the set of conscious experiences
is finite.

> Theoretically, it would be possible to interact separately and differently
> with the two consciousnesses which result. It is this objective,
> measurable, different activity in the universe which ultimately grounds
> this notion of "measure of consciousness" in reality. Otherwise we are
> stuck with a completely arbitrary definition with no observable effects.

The existence of consciousness other than our own has no observable
effects, but we believe it on a priori grounds. I think some conscious
experiences must have greater measure than others, otherwise we have no
explanation for why our own conscious experiences are so simple and
regular.
Received on Thu Jan 14 1999 - 16:22:27 PST