X-Message-Number: 12588
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 00:46:34 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: feeling, consciousness.

Bob Ettinger, #12575, says

>... But we have so far absolutely 
>no evidence whatsoever for feeling or consciousness anywhere in the universe 
>outside carbon-based organisms.
>
What I'm wondering, Bob, is what would be acceptable evidence? (And I didn't
say "proof," just "evidence.") To me, that some robots search around for
electrical outlets to recharge themselves when their batteries run low is
some evidence that they should be considered "hungry" and thus in possession
of some feeling and consciousness. True, you can explain this behavior in
"unemotional" terms, i.e. in terms of how they were made, but you can also
do that for carbon-based life forms, if you go to great enough lengths (down
to the subatomic level, for instance). So again, what would be acceptable
evidence?

Mike Perry 

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