Re: QTI & euthanasia (brouillon)

From: Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:10:47 -0800

Bruno Marchal wrote:
> On 07 Nov 2008, at 08:51, Kory Heath wrote:
>
>
>> On Nov 5, 2008, at 3:51 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
>>
>>> Just consider the computation which correspond to your actual real
>>> life. That computation is encoded (indeed an infinity of times) in
>>> the
>>> Universal Deploiement, which is itself encoded (indeed an infinity of
>>> times) in the set of all arithmetical truth. All right? Such a
>>> computation would define an arithmetical version of you, and would
>>> constitute a phisophical (indeed arithmetical) zombies.
>>>
>> I see what you mean, but most philosophers wouldn't be willing to
>> count un-implemented computations as zombies. For instance, Daniel
>> Dennett is a well-known opponent of philosophical zombies, but I don't
>> think he considers the hypothetical creatures in some cellular-
>> automaton to be conscious unless that cellular-automaton is
>> implemented in some physical way.
>>
>
>
> Yes but Dennett takes matter for granted (no more conceptual problem
> in physics, he says).
>
>
>
>
>
>> In the standard view, believing in
>> philosophical zombies means believing that it's logically possible for
>> there to be a physical copy of me that's identical to me in every
>> physical way, except that it's not conscious. (Like Dennett, I think
>> that's logically impossible.)
>>
>
>
> It is not easy for me to explain, the easiest explanation depends of
> what you have already understand.
> I should do exams or things like that :)
>
> Arithmetical truth, and even an important *tiny*, but not so tiny,
> part of arithmetical truth contains, encodes, defines, implements, the
> running of a universal dovetailer going through all possible mind
> states, through all possible computations, containing notably
> relations between bodies like in the more cellular automata type of
> histories.
> It is a bit astonishing, but a tiny part of arithmetic contains
> description of our third person current conversation, including
> everything you need as far as you cut the description of somewhere. So
> you can talk about those entities as zombies, once we decide that they
> are not conscious, despite they act and behave like us in many
> stories, meaning with the right counterfactual, etc.
>

It's easy enough to agree with "describes", but is describing something
the same as creating it? How can we decide these entities (what makes
them entities?) are or are not conscious?
> In truth, *I* could reverse the game, and ask you what you mean by
> physics and physical. What is matter? That is the mystery for me. This
> is what truly interest me. I don't buy that theory saying simply "the
> physical Universe exist". But I don't, play that game because UDA+MGA
> is really a logical argument justifying that: IF you buy the
> mechanist theory of the mind, THEN you have to drop out the primary-
> materialist or substantialist explanation of matter.
> Fuch and Pauli and Wigner have defended already similar interpretation
> for QM.
> I think they are correct, except that, well Fuch explicitely, want a
> singular physical universe. This can't work with COMP or even with a
> vast hierarchy of weakening of comp.
>
> To sum up. Our problem is that I agree with you and Dennett that a
> physical zombie cannot exist, (and for the same reason), but assuming
> comp, there is no such thing as a physical thing, giving another
> reason. The days where I decide to believe in comp, I don't believe
> in physical things, be it zombie or people, in general. Those days I
> don't believe that people or person are physical. A physical thing,
> with comp, does not exist per se, it can only be a map of our personal
> ignorance of the story we are in (a bit like an electronic orbital is
> a map of the unknown computation story of the position of the electron
> relatively to your measurements).
>

I understand that up to the "map of our personal ignorance" = "physical
things" How does our uncertainity as to which histories we are entail
phyisical things?

Brent
>
> Do you understand that if comp is false, then arithmetical truth
> contains (immaterial) zombies (because it contains already the
> relative implementations of all solutions of Schroedinger equations
> and variant, if only that for example ...)?
> It contains fictions, if you want, but as precise as us to say, the
> level of *description* of the quantum strings, again as a picture. Do
> you see what I mean?
>
> Bruno
>
>
> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
>
>
>
>
> >
>
>


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Received on Fri Nov 07 2008 - 14:10:58 PST

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