Hello everyone.
For those who don't know what a Philosophical zombie is, here is how wiki defines it
"A philosophical zombie [...] is a hypothetical being that from the outside is indistinguishable from a normal human being but lacks conscious experience, qualia, or . For example, if a philosophical zombie was poked with a sharp object it would not feel any pain sensation, yet could behave exactly as if it does feel pain (it may say "ouch", recoil from the stimulus, and say that it is feeling pain)"
Now: i was wondering if, virtually, could a p.zombie really exist. I see it as a nonsense, and here is why
I am atheist. I'm a rational person and don't believe in phantoms, ghosts and souls. I think that the consciousness is a result of a connected net of cells integrating and coworking with each others, by elaborating external stimuli. No such thing as a soul could exist, because it should be a non-physical and supernatural force, that means that:
1)something that is not made of energy and matter could not interact with energy and matter, thus we can't be driven by this force. We are, instead, conditioned by our brain, and every damage or malfunction in this organ will affect our consciousness and functionality. Also, if a soul interacted with our material brain there would have to be some kind of energy transfer/creation and so we would be able to detect it.
2)a soul, if real, by definition could do well without a "bodily shell", so our matter-energy world would be useless in order for a soul to exist.
I think most of you could easily agree with my thoughts about soul (at least the part "soul does not exist!").
Now, assumed that we are just a connection between cells that simply elaborate stimuli, let's come back to the main topic.
A philosophical zombie would, by definition, be without a real consciousness. But if consciousness rose from complexity, and a pz HAS to be complex enough in order to produce human-like responses, then, it necessairily HAS to have a consciousness. It must have a net of wired "cells" or whatevers, just like a real human being.
So how could a philosophical zombie be real? If it is capable of elaborating responses, answers and argue about philosophy, just like us, and it has to do so in order to behave as a human, how could it not have a self-consciousness?
Some of you could argue that it wouldn't have any emotion or feeling, but if WE have them (and we are just a bunch of cells) why should a pz not be able to fall in love, get angry etc...? Afterall, it (he?she?) displays feelings and we could be sure that they are genuine just as we do when relating with a human!
What do you think?
For those who don't know what a Philosophical zombie is, here is how wiki defines it
"A philosophical zombie [...] is a hypothetical being that from the outside is indistinguishable from a normal human being but lacks conscious experience, qualia, or . For example, if a philosophical zombie was poked with a sharp object it would not feel any pain sensation, yet could behave exactly as if it does feel pain (it may say "ouch", recoil from the stimulus, and say that it is feeling pain)"
Now: i was wondering if, virtually, could a p.zombie really exist. I see it as a nonsense, and here is why
I am atheist. I'm a rational person and don't believe in phantoms, ghosts and souls. I think that the consciousness is a result of a connected net of cells integrating and coworking with each others, by elaborating external stimuli. No such thing as a soul could exist, because it should be a non-physical and supernatural force, that means that:
1)something that is not made of energy and matter could not interact with energy and matter, thus we can't be driven by this force. We are, instead, conditioned by our brain, and every damage or malfunction in this organ will affect our consciousness and functionality. Also, if a soul interacted with our material brain there would have to be some kind of energy transfer/creation and so we would be able to detect it.
2)a soul, if real, by definition could do well without a "bodily shell", so our matter-energy world would be useless in order for a soul to exist.
I think most of you could easily agree with my thoughts about soul (at least the part "soul does not exist!").
Now, assumed that we are just a connection between cells that simply elaborate stimuli, let's come back to the main topic.
A philosophical zombie would, by definition, be without a real consciousness. But if consciousness rose from complexity, and a pz HAS to be complex enough in order to produce human-like responses, then, it necessairily HAS to have a consciousness. It must have a net of wired "cells" or whatevers, just like a real human being.
So how could a philosophical zombie be real? If it is capable of elaborating responses, answers and argue about philosophy, just like us, and it has to do so in order to behave as a human, how could it not have a self-consciousness?
Some of you could argue that it wouldn't have any emotion or feeling, but if WE have them (and we are just a bunch of cells) why should a pz not be able to fall in love, get angry etc...? Afterall, it (he?she?) displays feelings and we could be sure that they are genuine just as we do when relating with a human!
What do you think?
"I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice."
Charles Robert Darwin, Letter to Asa Gray (22 may 1860)
Charles Robert Darwin, Letter to Asa Gray (22 may 1860)
