Peter Jones writes:
> If consciousness supervenes on inherent non-interprtation-dependent
> features,
> it can supervene on features which are binary, either present or
> absent.
>
> For instance, whether a programme examines or modifies its own code is
> surely
> such a feature.
>
>
> >Even if computationalism were false and only those machines
> > specially blessed by God were conscious there would have to be a continuum, across
> > different species and within the lifespan of an individual from birth to death. The possibility
> > that consciousness comes on like a light at some point in your life, or at some point in the
> > evolution of a species, seems unlikely to me.
>
> Surely it comes on like a light whenver you wake up.
Being alive/dead or conscious/unconscious would seem to be a binary property, but it's
hard to believe (though not impossible) that there would be one circuit, neuron or line of
code that makes the difference between conscious and unconscious.
Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Tue Sep 12 2006 - 23:32:33 PDT