Note that some people suffer from rare disorders that prevent them from the sensation of pain (e.g. congenital insensitivity to pain).
the pain info doesn't even make it to the brain because of malfunctioning nerve cells which are responsible for transmitting the pain signals (caused by genetic mutations).
This is equivalent to their lacking the input (the register that says your current pain level is 17) not the ability to feel pain if the register was connected (and therefore says nothing about their brain or their intelligence).
In some of those cases, the pain is killed by increased production of endorphins in the brain,
In these cases, the pain is reduced but still felt . . . . but again this is equivalent to being register driven -- the nerves say the pain level is 17, the endorphins alter the register down to 5.
Particular feelings (as we know it) require certain sensors and chemistry.
I would agree that particular sensations require certain sensors but chemistry is an implementation detail that IMO could be replaced with something else.
Sophisticated logical structures (at least in our bodies) are not enough for actual feelings. For example, to feel pleasure, you also need things like serotonin, acetylcholine, noradrenaline, glutamate, enkephalins and endorphins. Worlds of real feelings and logic are loosely coupled.
OK. So our particular physical implementation of our mental computation uses chemicals for global environment settings and logic (a very detailed and localized operation) uses neurons (yet, nonetheless, is affected by the global environment settings/chemicals). I don't see your point unless you're arguing that there is something special about using chemicals for global environment settings rather than some other method (in which case I would ask "What is that something special and why is it special?").
Mark
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