Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> 2009/1/14 Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>
>> However a Turing machine is not just a set of states, it also requires a
>> set of transition rules. So in the same abstract way that the integers
>> are ordered by "succession" the computational states of a Turing machine
>> are ordered. Whether just abstract rules, without implementation, are
>> sufficient isn't clear to me.
>
> In an actual physical computer the transition rules are represented by
> the causal links between the states, so that a particular input will
> reliably give rise to a particular output. But I return to my question
> about what would happen if there were a discontinuity in a sequence of
> states, so that s1 to s10 on m1 are causally linked, s11 to s20 on m2
> are causally linked, but there is no link between m1 and m2, i.e. m2
> just happens to start in s11 accidentally. Assuming that s1 to s20
> occurring in a single machine results is a few moments of
> consciousness (which is to say, assuming that computationalism is
> true), what would happen if the sequence is broken in the way just
> described?
I suspect something is lost. You are thinking of the states as abstract steps
in a computer program. But a computer program requires a computer to run and
the computer implements distributed spatiotemporal links. In general you cannot
take even a digitial computer and freeze it in a instant of time, call that a
state, and restart it without any effects. Switches are in intermediate states,
EM waves are propagating, electrons are diffusing - it is not a static thing
like a step in a program.
In terms of Bruno's teleporter, one might say yes accepting that there would be
a one-time gap in consciousness (ever had a concussion?), but one would probably
hesitate if the there was to be a gap every 10ms.
Brent
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Received on Wed Jan 14 2009 - 12:40:22 PST