RE: Consciousness
July 9, 2025 at 9:16 am
(This post was last modified: July 9, 2025 at 9:36 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(July 9, 2025 at 9:07 am)Ahriman Wrote: It's all the same stuff....
Fundamentally, both in composition and function. Complicated processes can arise or be effected by the manipulation of surprisingly few variables. Computer nerds know this in another context. Any complex logic circuit, and any other kind of simple logic gate, can be built using NAND alone. There's a basic structure that all neurons share. While there are specialist neurons, which are marginally different at a structural scale, and while most neurons are different at a molecular scale, consciousness does appear to be a product of a bunch of the same stuff made out of the usual stuff interacting in novel ways.
Evolutionarily and biologically speaking, this is either fortuitous or gravity - as the duplication and reproduction of largely similar bits and bobs that an be constructed from material in the environment is baked in. So if you were going to construct a biological consciousness it would probably lean heavily on the repeated use of universal components. Whereas, if you were to intentionally construct a similar processing apparatus out of silicon, you might leverage it's properties, and build wholly task specific arrays out of a wild assortment of different sub-components, instead.
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!
