RE: Mind is the brain?
March 31, 2016 at 5:08 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2016 at 5:21 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(March 31, 2016 at 12:16 am)bennyboy Wrote: I'm not against the idea of machine minds. I just don't think that your comp mind idea is robust enough yet to merit the status of a full-fledged scientific theory.It's actually not my theory, lol, it's a name for a collection of scientific theories and mathematical theorems - applied to mind as a working hypothesis in the sciences, and as theory in philosophy.
Quote:The way I see it, there are two mutually exclusive views: either mind supervenes on complex structures, or it is intrinsic to matter at an elemental level. If we are to look beyond organic chemistry (as you and I both do) for the essence of mind, then we have to look at some kind of function. But then you end up with a semantic problem: what do you call "processing" and what is just stuff happening? There's no non-arbitrary way to really answer that semantic question.There is, and as before, you simply aren't satisfied....and as before, you're being unsatisfied does not equal non-existence.
Quote:My solution to this issue is to avoid drawing arbitrary lines at all, and to look at the simplest possible thing that could be thought of as processing: and that would be things like photon transmission, electrical bonds, quantum entanglement, and things like that.
I can think of a toaster as a rudimentary aircraft.......after all, they rack up alt and distance when I throw them....and are often made of the same materials as a 747. You claim to have an issue with semantics and arbitrary lines, and yet you object to this supposed problem...with semantics, and arbitrary use of the terms processing and information exchange. That's fairly pointless. -Everything- is "stuff happening", not all stuff happening is "aircraft flying". Similarly, all computing is stuff happening, but not all stuff happening is computing. Those things you mentioned are the interactions which we leverage to achieve computation in the material, rather than theoretical, sense....but if they don't meet the requirements of a computer, all the equivocation in the world on the subject of processing is irrelevant to comp mind......even if you take those equivocations to be true.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
