On Jul 30, 12:08 pm, Jason Resch <jasonre...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 9:35 PM, Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > If you have 10,000 people all wear > > different colored T-Shirts and stand in an arrangement to make an > > image of Mickey Mouse as seen from the air - those people have not > > taken on any qualities of any animated character themselves. They are > > aware only of human interactions, participating in a social event. > > This is a good conclusion I think. Now if you extend it to the China brain > thought experiment, you will see that the individual neurons (or humans in > the case of the China brain) do not have the experiences of the whole. > Consider that the china brain is simulating the experiences of a person > riding a bicycle. Which of the people pretending to be neurons will have > any idea that is the experience? Or if the brain is simulating a pain in > the right thigh, why would any of the people simulating that pain experience > pain in their thigh?
The China brain can't simulate the interior sense of a neuron. It's just a dynamic sculpture. > Note that I disagree with Ned Block's conclusion regarding the China brain, > I believe it would have mental states. (and perhaps you would too, given > that it is based on biological material) Why should neurons be able to > interact with each other to produce consciousness, but large groups of cells > (humans) could not? No, Block is right. The China brain fails for the same reason as inorganic materials fail. It's not the same thing. Fire can't be simulated by water. My whole point in the Mickey Mouse anecdote is to demonstrate clearly that no organization of human bodies is going to generate it's own experience. You could have a trillion Chinas making a Mickey Mouse move and act in silent movies, but without a human to see it from the air, there is no movie, no Mickey. Craig -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
