explaining consciousness
I think most people who read Daniel Dennett's book Consciousness Explained would agree that at best he made a good attempt to explain away the problem. I think that The Mind's I, which he put together with Douglas Hofstadter, was much better and in particular I liked the story A Conversation with Einstein's Brain (*), because it points out what the problem is actually about (x). I recommend it as a first step into this topic, after all it was my first step ...
(*) The online version of the story is full of typos; you might want to read the actual book to enjoy it.
(x) In short: If my conscious experience is the result of some complex software running on the neural network that is my brain, then the physical details should not matter as long as the underlying computer is equivalent to a universal Turing machine. But such a machine can be realized in many different ways, e.g. as a complicated state machine described in a large book. Can a book be conscious? What happens to my consciousness if this computer pauses or halts forever? Where exactly is my consciousness if the pages of the book are distributed over the world? etc.
(*) The online version of the story is full of typos; you might want to read the actual book to enjoy it.
(x) In short: If my conscious experience is the result of some complex software running on the neural network that is my brain, then the physical details should not matter as long as the underlying computer is equivalent to a universal Turing machine. But such a machine can be realized in many different ways, e.g. as a complicated state machine described in a large book. Can a book be conscious? What happens to my consciousness if this computer pauses or halts forever? Where exactly is my consciousness if the pages of the book are distributed over the world? etc.
to sort false from true
John Holbo is working on the Dr.Seuss-inspired book On Beyond Zarathustra and I guess not only the fans of Friedrich Nietzsche will enjoy it.
"I'll go up the mountain
to sort false from true.
To sort out What's What
and to sort out Who's Who?
And which Wozamawhich
is the Best What to do."
"I'll go up the mountain
to sort false from true.
To sort out What's What
and to sort out Who's Who?
And which Wozamawhich
is the Best What to do."
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