2009/1/16 Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden>:
> But both the electronic and the mechanical computer are implementing a process
> that is distributed in spacetime and has causal connections.
Yes, and my claim is that the causal connections are important only
because they give rise to the sequence of states. If the same state
changes occurred accidentally, I don't see where there is room for the
resulting consciousness to be any different. For if the consciousness
were to be different it would be able to send different signals to the
vocal cords or loudspeaker reporting that difference, but this is
impossible if the output states are the same as they would have been
had they been causally linked.
>>> 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.
>>
>> Assuming the gap did not result in accumulation of errors, a technical
>> problem, and assuming the environment is held constant to eliminate
>> 100Hz flicker, I don't see how teleportation every 10ms could alter
>> consciousness.
>
> I could if you lost 10ms of consciousness everytime you were teleported.
How can you be sure that your consciousness was not suspended for the
past minute, assuming that care was taken to leave the environment
unchanged during this period?
--
Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Fri Jan 16 2009 - 08:10:59 PST