Re: consciousness based on information or computation?

From: Saj Malhi <sajm.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 00:08:59 -0000

Earlier it was written:
>>A zombie is a hypothetical being physically identical to a human but without consciousness. Such a being would deny that he lacks consciousness, he would marvel at his ability to see qualia such as the colors red and blue, and would be motivated to find a theory of consciousness just as his human counterpart would.

A zombie cannot 'marvel' since this is a property of consciousness and would therefore not be motivated to do anything more than act on his instincts.
 
Also:
>>When is a string a computation and when is it information?
I would suggest that a computation is something that produces an output.

 
Finally:
>>Either strings can be concious, in which case consciousness is just as complicated as strings are, or only computations can be conscious, in which case consciousness is just as complicated as computations are.
I think an important point here is to consider whether consciousness can be simulated by a single computation or string, for although the brain does indeed process a multitude of disparate inputs into a single output - consciousness (a computation by my above 'definition') - this does not necessarily mean that the process can be modelled by a single computation, just as parametric equations cannot always be expressed as a single unified function.
Received on Sun Feb 14 1999 - 16:29:16 PST