(April 4, 2015 at 8:49 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Why would our behavior be exactly the same if we removed a contributing factor? I would expect it to be altered to an extent commensurate with the alteration in circumstance.
Quote:for instance if you looked at the the binary code of a digitised painting you would not see the same patterns as looking at it as a painting.You don't speak or think binary....for a machine using binary this is exactly what it sees...the very same patterns, translated to a different language. I may not see the painting, but the machine that speaks/thinks in binary does. In the same way.....I may not understand the beautiful lyrics of a song in swahili........meanwhile...those damned swahilis are getting teary eyed.
I'm sorry if I have explained my argument poorly. I'll learn to do better. In #1 I mean to suggest that consciousness as a 'contributing factor' is not removed but just question whether it needs the 'presentational' part that we experience. Roughly equivalent to saying that if a computer simulation is running and you turn off the monitor - the visual output of the system - it makes no difference to the running of the simulation.
As for your second point, I think it's best if I just leave that because I'm totally confused and have lost faith in - and even understanding of - my own argument. At the same time I don't think what I mean is a matter of language but just a matter of how the data is neurally represented, but now I'm starting to think that maybe it is possible to represent colours neurally without resorting to having a single neuron for each colour, I just don't know how.
