Jim Coons writes:
>I see no reason why consciousness must necessarily be sequential in
>time, maybe once you begin to die your consciousness decreases till it
>matches some other being. I don't see why that couldn't just as well be
>earlier in time as later. Maybe consciousness just flows in a cycle. In
>fact if our consciousness is owned by many beings instead of just one,
>could that explain indeterminism in QM. ( We don't know which copy we
>are. )
>
>Jim Coons
>
This is an "arrow of time" plus "personal identity" sort of question. Why do
I look with anticipation to the future, rather than the past? Also, when I
die, why can't I say that my consciousness flows to some other sentient
being? I can answer the second question - because continuity of personal
identity is meaningless without memory and the sense of being the same
person. The first question is more difficult. My guess is that in fact a
certain time direction *is* necessary for implementation of a conscious
process, machine or program. It need not be dependent on real time; it could
be simply the fact that lines in a computer program are listed and run in a
particular order. I suppose it is possible that there are non-linear
consciousnesses, but that would be something very alien.
--Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Fri Apr 15 2005 - 02:56:34 PDT