RE: consciousness based on information or computation?

From: Higgo James <james.higgo.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:35:33 -0000

How can 'measure' possibly have any meaning in an infinite universe. What
is 50% of infinity? Exactly.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wei Dai [SMTP:weidai.domain.name.hidden]
> Sent: 15 January 1999 00:20
> To: hal.domain.name.hidden; everything-list.domain.name.hidden.com
> Subject: Re: consciousness based on information or computation?
>
> 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 Fri Jan 15 1999 - 02:43:47 PST