RE: Free Will
September 1, 2016 at 10:02 am
(This post was last modified: September 1, 2016 at 10:06 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(September 1, 2016 at 9:58 am)Yoo Wrote:-as does qualia......but, cut that out, if you wish to refer to the machinery as a separate thing.... then lets do that.(September 1, 2016 at 9:45 am)Rhythm Wrote: It would take a long time to unpack all of the tiny logical mis-steps above. So I'll cut to the heart of it. You can;t think of any function for qualia. It doesn't seem..to you, like it's an advantageous thing to possess?
Look around you, a world -run- by creatures with qualia. All we ever talk about is our qualia. We use that qualia to make inferences about the world and use those inferences to subjugate it.....our qualia form both the context for production and appreciation of art and our human languages... but you can't imagine a -single- function......for qualia? Can you not imagine a function for a picture of an arrow, or a technical schematic for an orbital launch system? Can you not imagine the function of an interactive live map of the african savannah...including which lions are or may be hiding under which clumps of grass? Can you not imagine the function of a visceral experience of family unity and happiness? Can you not imagine the function of a compelling feeling of satisfaction with chocolate?
Maybe cut to the right heart next timeI said this: " I also can't think of any possible function they might fulfil, that wouldn't be already fulfilled by the machinery in the brain that caused them."
Every function you just mentioned, comes ultimately from the brain. Why add the qualia? That was my question.
Seen any machines enjoy a candy bar lately? Ever seen a machine give a girl a box of chocolates to get in her pants? Have you ever seen a machine form an emoptinal bond with a family so strong that it would lay down it's own life for them? When's the last time a machine invented a moon lander? Did machines evolve from a vulnerable species with a need to know whether or not something out there would eat them..did machines evolve with a necessarry aversion to being eaten? When's the last time a machine invented a language or painted a work of art?
The machinery of the brain -does- do all of these things... qualia is -also- the machinery of the brain. Might there be some other way to do them, or some other machine that could do them. Maybe, not yet, not here anyway. This is how we do them. These are their many functions.
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