> From: Matt Mahoney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > What many people call consciousness is qualia, that which distinguishes > you from a philosophical zombie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-zombie > > There is no test for consciousness in this sense, but humans universally > believe that they are conscious, and this belief is testable. Just ask > someone. Do you really feel pain, or do you just behave as if you feel > it? > > The belief in experiencing qualia is what I call recursive episodic > memory. Episodic memory is the ability to recall a time sequence of > events in the correct order. These events could include earlier acts of > recall. For example, earlier today I recalled how yesterday a tune was > playing in my head that I heard the day before (and so on). > > You probably do not remember any events that happened before you were 3 > years old. You were clearly learning then, but it was not in episodic > memory. A person without a hippocampus lacks episodic memory. He could > learn new skills but wouldn't remember the lessons. Episodic memory has > been demonstrated in birds, but we do not know if it is recursive. > > I don't know if recursive episodic memory is necessary for intelligence. > When I need to come up with an algorithm when writing software, it is > useful to go through the steps in my head and then be able to recall my > thought process. It is also useful for databases to log read-only > transactions. It is useful for computers to copy recently read data to > cache. > > However, recursive episodic memory could also be an artifact of the > brain's memory management system. Long term memory is written at a > constant rate (about 2 bits per second, according to Landauer). During > quiet times, it has to write something. >
People believe they are conscious. Why? Because they are. There is camaraderie between conscious beings, especially ones of similar consciousness like the same species. I believe that the guy walking down the street looking at me thinking about mugging me(say it's NYC) is conscious. Why? Because he believes that I am conscious and I might have a gun for defense. It's self reinforcing. We analyze each other's conscious thoughts. More than 2 agents and you get more effects and amplifications. Is there more than just a belief that we are conscious? Sure some rare individuals can block pain. But when they do so they are actually blocking the signals somehow or preventing their registration. There is a real pain that is blocked. It's real. Consciousness is a system related to structure, information flow, etc.. and there are different types and strengths. It's more than just a belief... and belief may be a product of consciousness. John ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=103754539-40ed26 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
