On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 1:59 AM, Brent Meeker <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > > On 10/26/2015 6:15 PM, Bruce Kellett wrote: > > On 27/10/2015 12:05 pm, Jason Resch wrote: > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 7:37 PM, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> > wrote: > >> On 27/10/2015 10:52 am, Jason Resch wrote: >> >> On Monday, October 26, 2015, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> >> wrote: >> > On 27/10/2015 8:16 am, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >> > >> > On Tuesday, 27 October 2015, John Clark < <johnkcl...@gmail.com> >> johnkcl...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >>> >> >>> > >> >>> so where does semantic content come from? >> >> >> >> From examples in the physical world. You can give as many botanical >> definitions of the word "tree" as you want but it will just be a word >> defined by other words that are themselves defined by yet more words that >> are.... If you tried to dig for meaning all you'd find is a endless loop, >> it would just be a game where words are manipulated according to the rules >> of botany until somebody forgot about definitions and pointed to the ASCII >> string "t-r-e-e" and then pointed to a large photosynthesizing organism >> made largely of cellulose that exists in the physical world. Then even a >> martian would notice a correspondence between this game of manipulating >> symbols called "botany" that humans had invented and the way these large >> photosynthesizing organism made largely of cellulose live. >> > >> > What about a virtual world with trees and observers, and no I/O devices >> connecting it to outside trees? >> > >> > I think Brent answered this in his response to Russell. The trees of >> the ordinary physical world do not connect with anything outside this world >> either in order to have semantic content. A virtual world would be no >> different in this respect. The point is that the content comes from >> something other formal symbol manipulation -- things such as pointing and >> sensory responses. There has to be something other than the consciousness >> with which the consciousness can interact. >> >> I take it you've never played video games. >> >> Not with any regularity. But I take it that when you play such games, you >> interact with the simulated environment via the provided interface -- the >> game only interacts with itself in so far as the original programmers >> designed it to. The semantic content is provided from outside in either >> case. >> > > So what do you think would happen if an AI, or uploaded mind were uploaded > into a virtual reality that was fully disconnected from the physical world? > Would that mind no longer be conscious? > > Difficult to tell because, by construction, you can't ask it. But if both > the AI and the VR are programmed by some external intelligence, semantic > content might be provided in that way. > > > The AI, assuming it interacted with it's virtual world, would be conscious > of things in the virtual world. > Interesting, I didn't expect you to take this position. We agree then. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
