On 10/5/2013 1:25 PM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 6 Oct 2013, at 7:03 am, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote:
On 10/5/2013 5:38 AM, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
On 5 October 2013 15:25, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote:
The question is whether swapping out part of the system for a
functional equivalent will change the qualia the system experiences
without changing the behaviour. I don't think this is possible, for if
the qualia change the subject would (at least) notice
That's the point I find questionable. Why couldn't some qualia change in
minor ways and the system *not* notice because the system doesn't have any
absolute memory to which it can compare qualia. Have you ever gone back to a
house you lived in as a small child? Looks a lot smaller doesn't it.
Brent
If a normal brain does not notice changes or falsely notices changes
then a brain with functionally identical implants will also fail to
notice or falsely notice these changes.
But now this is a circular definition of "functional". It no longer refers just to what
is 3p observable; now "functionally identical" is to include 1p qualia and the argument
purporting to prove qualia must be preserved if behavior is preserved is turned into a tautology.
No, it refers only to externally observable behaviour. If your qualia are
different this may affect your behaviour even if it's just to report that your
qualia are different. But how could your behaviour be affected if the
replacement is functionally identical? And if the qualia can change without
behaviour changing then in what sense have the qualia changed? Not a minor
change that doesn't get noticed but a gross change, like going completely blind
or losing the ability to understand language. If consciousness is substrate
dependent then such a thing should be possible.
So you agree that there could be minor or subtle changes that went unnoticed?
Brent
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