We are aware, conscious, sentient and intelligent. We have descriptions for these words, but none of which actually due the processes justice.
If we are no more than a "brain-in-a-vat", there is no way that we can know. Would then our existence be any more or less real than a highly sophisticated computer simulated neural network? Could this computer have as much awareness as an insect or some lower form of mammalian life?
Do not try this at home! I know you hate your younger sibling, but do not try this! It is strictly a hypothetical thought experiment!
If we take a brain and throw it in a vat. Theoretically, we could feed this brain chemicals and electrical impulses to simulate a reality. This brain would have no way to know it was only a simulation. It would have awareness, consciousness, sentience and intelligence.
Now the experiment. If we remove one cell at a time, when would these processes stop? If we establish a baseline and stop before a cessation of these functions and reassemble these cells in a second vat, do we have a second conscious aware being?
If we are no more than a "brain-in-a-vat", there is no way that we can know. Would then our existence be any more or less real than a highly sophisticated computer simulated neural network? Could this computer have as much awareness as an insect or some lower form of mammalian life?
Do not try this at home! I know you hate your younger sibling, but do not try this! It is strictly a hypothetical thought experiment!
If we take a brain and throw it in a vat. Theoretically, we could feed this brain chemicals and electrical impulses to simulate a reality. This brain would have no way to know it was only a simulation. It would have awareness, consciousness, sentience and intelligence.
Now the experiment. If we remove one cell at a time, when would these processes stop? If we establish a baseline and stop before a cessation of these functions and reassemble these cells in a second vat, do we have a second conscious aware being?
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
