On 10/09/07, Matt Mahoney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> --- Vladimir Nesov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I intentionally don't want to exactly define what S is as it describes
> > vaguely-defined 'subjective experience generator'. I instead leave it
> > at description level.
>
> If you can't define what subjective experience is, then how do you know it
> exists? If it does exist, then is it a property of the computation, or does
> it depend on the physical implementation of the computer? How do you test for
> it?
You don't need to define it to know that it exists and to be able to
test for it. I know what red looks like, I can test if something is
red by looking at it, and scientific instruments can be used to
determine the range of wavelengths that would qualify as red in my
perception ("Is that red?" "Yes" "OK, I'll write down 650nm"). This
defines criteria for producing the experience "red", but it does not
define or describe the experience "red" such that a blind person
person would know what I was talking about. More generally, we can
discuss in detail what it would take to produce consciousness (brains,
transistors, environment etc.) leaving consciousness as something only
implicitly understood by those who have it.
--
Stathis Papaioannou
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