One of the things I get reminded of every few years, is that difficult determinations often look clearer when you consider them in a wider scope. Years ago, when I was trying to figure out whether conservative or progressive political policies were better, I discovered that widening my investigation to history helped immensely, and widening even further … Continue reading What counts as consciousness?
Tag: Brain
Libertarian free will is incoherent, and that’s good for responsibility
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCGtkDzELAI For a while, I'd considered myself done debating free will, having expressed everything about it I had to say. However, with this Crash Course video, and in light of the discussion on physicality we had earlier this summer, I realized I do have some additional thoughts on it. Just a quick reminder: I'm a compatibilist. I'm convinced … Continue reading Libertarian free will is incoherent, and that’s good for responsibility
The challenges of copying a mind
Michael Graziano has an article at the Atlantic looking at the plausibility of mind copying. He doesn't beat around the bush, going all in with the title: Why You Should Believe in the Digital Afterlife, although the actual text of the article is more nuanced, and echoes what I hear from most neuroscientists. As a neuroscientist, … Continue reading The challenges of copying a mind
Damasio’s theory of consciousness
Antonio Damasio is a neuroscientist and neurologist who has published a number of theories about how the brain and mind work. Unlike many theories of mind, his are thoroughly grounded in neuroanatomy. Central to Damasio's theory of consciousness is the idea of biological value, that which helps in preserving homeostasis, which of course aids in … Continue reading Damasio’s theory of consciousness
What would it mean for a machine to suffer?
One of the dividing lines I often hear in discussions about whether we should regard an artificially intelligent machine as a fellow being is, does it have the capacity to suffer? It's an interesting criteria, since it implies that what's important is that there be something there for us to empathize with. But it raises an interesting question. … Continue reading What would it mean for a machine to suffer?
Consciousness is composed of non-consciousness
The components of a thing are not individually the thing. For example, the components of the chair I type most of my blog posts from are not the chair itself, but the wood of the frame, the springs for the back and bottom, some metal parts for the reclining mechanism, the fabric coverings, cushions, etc. … Continue reading Consciousness is composed of non-consciousness
Are rocks conscious?
Consider a rock outside somewhere. It sits there, starting off in the morning in a certain state. The sun comes out and proceeds to warm it up. Its temperature climbs through the day until the sun sets, whereupon it cools through the night. The cycle starts again the next morning. The rock is going through … Continue reading Are rocks conscious?
Michael Graziano: What hard problem?
Michael Graziano has an article at The Atlantic explaining why consciousness is not mysterious. It's a fairly short read (about 3 minutes). I recommend anyone interested in this stuff read it in full. (I tweeted a link to it last night, but then decided it warranted discussion here.) The TL;DR is that the hard problem of … Continue reading Michael Graziano: What hard problem?
Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence
I've posted a number of times about artificial intelligence, mind uploading, and various related topics. There are a number of things that can come up in the resulting discussions, one of them being Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems. The typical line of arguments goes something like this: Gödel implies that there are solutions that no algorithmic system can accomplish but that humans … Continue reading Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence
Books on neuroscience
Related to the last post, someone asked me where I got the information on the brain that I discussed there. After answering, it occurred to me that other people might be interested. First, let me say that the examples I gave in that post about brain module functionality were not speculative. They are well established … Continue reading Books on neuroscience
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