>
> You don't think paramecium behaviour could be modelled on a computer?
>
> Stathis Papaiaonnou
A paramecium can behave like it's perceiving something. I haven't observed
it myself but I have spoken to people who have and they say they have
behaviours which betray some sort of awareness beyond the scope of their
boundary. A teeny paramecium-sized primitive external world model. A teeny
bit of adaptive behaviour.
So a computer model?....
A) that included a model of those aspects of the physics participating in
what the paramecium could have as experiences.
B) That included all the molecular pathways (cilia molecules, the lot)
C) that included a model of the response to the perceptual physics
D) That included a model of the environment of the paramecium
would be pretty good. But the model would not be having experiences.
There's the age old distinction between [modelling perfectly] and [the
perfect model]. The former aims at "realistic replication". The latter
aims at "suited to task". I think you could get pretty close to it
behaviourally. Maybe indistiguishable.
The way to test it? Make the model drive a nano-robot paramecium shell.
Then let it live with real paramecium. Then expose both to novelty and see
what the differences are.
I don't think any amount of detail will ever make the model or the
computer it is running on have experiences....the only perfect model of
the paramecium is a paramecium. Also...paramecium is not noted for its
scientific behaviour!
cheers,
colin
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Received on Sat Nov 25 2006 - 00:58:19 PST