X-Message-Number: 17916 Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:10:33 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: The Old Consciousness Thing To David Shipman: If you tell me what consciousness is (not what it feels like, which is a self-referential exercise), then we can have a meaningful discussion of the possibilities for building a conscious device. But not until! I suggest that consciousness is nothing more than an additional routine that simulates the personal effects of alternative actions, and chooses accordingly. For example, I avoid touching a hot object because I remember how it felt the last time, and "I" prefer to avoid this feeling. This would be very easy to simulate. By these criteria, my cat is certainly conscious. Last year, after a 6-inch snowfall, my cat went out for a quick walk. Later in the day, when he wanted to go out again, he paused in the doorway and surveyed the snow, which was marked with his own deep footprints. Very carefully, he walked out, placing his paws precisely in the previous footprints, thus minimizing his discomfort from contact with fresh snow. To me, this was clearly a conscious decision, derived after imagining the consequences if he created fresh tracks instead of following old ones. The final, insuperable problem in the "consciousness" debate is that any entity can claim to be conscious, and you have no way to refute this. Moreover, any entity can claim that another entity is conscious,without any possibility of being proven wrong. You cannot prove that my cat is not conscious, and I cannot prove that you are not conscious. Because, "consciousness" is almost entirely an internal matter. Even a parrot nailed to a perch could be conscious. "Nah, nah, he's not dead, he's just resting." --CP Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17916