10/22/04

what does it take to be conscious?

self-awareness
ability to break the rules, do what it wants
ability to change your own rules (values)
you can't tell from the outside whether something is conscious--it is a matter of internal experience
we can't know someone else's internal experience
digital computer has finite inputs, analog system like our minds has infinite inputs
each of our experiences affects every other decision we make (interconnectedness)

what matters is what you think, not whether you use a digital or analog methodology

what a computer will do in a particular situation is predictable if you know enough about the computer and its software, therefore it doesn't have free will

a computer can only make logical decisions, and so doesn't have free will

Turing Test: can you tell whether you are talking to a computer or a real person?

1. when the machine is as complex as the brain it will do the same things
2. if a machine passes a hard enough Turing Test who are we to say it isn't a person
3. being human is a very different experience from being a machine--way of thinking, body experience, soul/spirit