Re: consciousness based on information or computation?

From: Marchal <marchal.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Mon Feb 15 01:55:08 1999

Saj Malhi, sajm.domain.name.hidden, wrote :

>I would suggest that a computation is something that produces an output.

I don't think it is necessary. What about non stopping computation ? Or
non halting Turing Machines, or a dreaming brain, or the "whole" universe
?

I think the discussion on whether string or computation can be conscious
is a red herring.

Neither a string, nor a computation, nor a computer, nor a brain, etc.
can be conscious.
Only a person can be conscious.

The question is could a string and/or a computation incarnate a person
(relatively to an environment).

With computationnalism the answer is yes, both for string and computation.
(Obviously, with comp a computation is a string, or an equivalence class
of strings relatively to the choice of an universal Turing machine, so
nuances can be introduced for specific purposes).

Bruno

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Received on Mon Feb 15 1999 - 01:55:08 PST

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