Hi, > I have said many times on this list that I believe there is nothing we know > about reality that is anything other than computing, and that there is > nothing we know about consciousness that is anything other than computing, > other than our sense of awareness, which can be considered an attribute of > computation, itself.
I think this is an unnecessarily limited interpretation of the concept of "knowing" > I believe the richness of our own consciousness is derived from the richness > of sensations we have derived from external reality and the computational > and sensory machinery our own bodies provides to sense, give meaning to, > record, and generalize from them. Well, it's fine with me if you believe this ... so long as you recognize that it's a sort of article of faith, not something that can be proven empirically or logically. Similarly, my own belief that consciousness is the underlying reality, and physical and computational systems merely *focus* this consciousness in particular ways, is also not something that can be proven empirically or logically... > So I am not denying that all reality has consciousness. But I am > questioning at what level and through what media human consciousness is > capable of experiencing the consciousness of reality that is external to our > minds. And I am questioning to what extent our sense of oneness with the > consciousness of external reality is anything more than a sensory awareness, > perhaps amplified by deep emotions, of that level of the computations of > external reality which our senses --- and the models and recordings of > experience we used to understand them --- provide to our own miraculous, yet > very limited consciousnesses. Again the resolution of these sorts of questions goes beyond science... -- Ben G ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=120640061-aded06 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
