On Monday, 8 July 2013 at 12:04:14 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
On 7/8/2013 2:02 AM, Tommi wrote:
I don't buy that. Humans don't process data like computers do.
Humans don't and _can't_ process data like computers do, but
computers _can_
process data like humans do.
Human brain does it's computation in a highly parallel manner,
but signals run
much slower than they do in computers. What human brain does
is a very specific
process, optimized for survival on planet Earth.
But computers are generic computation devices. They can model
any computational
processes, including the ones that human brain uses (at least
once we get some
more cores in our computers).
Except that we have no idea how brains actually work.
"How to Create a Mind" makes a pretty convincing argument to the
contrary. It's true that we don't have the full picture of how
brains work. But both the temporal and spatial resolution of that
picture is increasing rapidly with better brain scanners.
Are fruit flies self-aware? Probably not. Are dogs? Definitely.
So at what point between fruit flies and dogs does
self-awareness start?
We have no idea. None at all.
"How to Create a Mind" talks plenty of consciousness as well. My
personal guess is that consciousness is not a binary property.
I feel I should get some royalties for plugging that book like
this.
