>
> Suddenly Hans, a newcomer, is championing ideas we all agreed on ages ago,
> and hitherto solid everythingers are attacking the foundations of their own
> beliefs. What's happening? Some new brain-chomping virus introduced by
> Jacques?
I don't think we ever discussed the concept of attributing
consciousness to inanimate objects before Hans came along. And don't
ever annoint our discussions as though they were some articles of
faith. This would be the end of good science. Every now and then, some
newcomer will come along and ask a question that makes us reexamine
things we all agreed about before.
>
> Enjoy your holiday, George - but it'll be harder to resist the virus without
> you..
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Hans Moravec [SMTP:hpm.domain.name.hidden]
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 2:27 AM
> > To: everything-list.domain.name.hidden; Russell Standish
> > Subject: Re: Fwd: Implementation/Relativity
> >
> > Russell Standish <R.Standish.domain.name.hidden>:
> > > We have discussed a number of scenarios whereby being too thorough in
> > > an investigation will reveal a concious object as nonconcious.
> >
> > Every one a canard.
> >
> > **** Consciousness is an attribution, not an objective fact ****
> >
> > But any attributed consciousness is conscious in its own eyes. This
> > includes your consciousness, my consciousness and theconsciousnesses
> > of characters in a movie, or the character represented by a
> > Turing-test-passing HLUT.
> >
> > Sherlock Holmes, as I read the books, is conscious in his own
> > eyes and has feelings and beliefs (I can tell you what some of
> > them are), and so was my teddy bear when I thought about it a
> > certain way.
> >
> >
> > Should this idea be hard to grasp by people who imagine that whole
> > universes exist simply by virtue of seeming to exist to the characters
> > implemented in them?
> >
> >
> > YOU exist simply by virtue of seeming to exist in your own self-model
> > (which exists only insofar as you exist).
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Russell Standish Director
High Performance Computing Support Unit,
University of NSW Phone 9385 6967
Sydney 2052 Fax 9385 6965
Australia R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Room 2075, Red Centre
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Wed Jul 28 1999 - 17:38:39 PDT