On 8/26/2019 6:13 PM, Jason Resch wrote:

                What does "distinct" mean in that?  It's a
                distinction you make because
                you can think of a brain and processes of the brain
                as separate. Just
                like you can think of an automobile plant as
                distinct from the steps
                required to make a car.  But that doesn't mean that
                a car can be made
                without any physical process.


            It is distinct in the sense that bits are different
            from electrical voltages or scribbles on paper.

            Yes and insurance is different from cash.  So what?  A
            bit is just a physical thing that you choose to  regard
            purely in terms of its computational relations...we
            calll the "abstractions" for a reason.


        Under your own definition of abstraction above, there is a
        distinction between a mind and a brain.  There's not an
        identity relation between the two, as one discards
        unnecessary details.

        "Unnecessary" to what?


    The specification of the mind.

    But you don't know that.  You're merely assuming that a mind can
    be specified without reference to a physical world in which it exists.


If functionalism is true, and if it's description is not infinite, then it can be.


But one of the specifications of the mind may be that it's physically instantiated.  Otherwise it couldn't perceive or act.

Brent

--
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 view this discussion on the web visit 
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/e952508c-b215-39b1-6ab5-3eee3b363cb8%40verizon.net.

Reply via email to