X-Message-Number: 12670
From: "John Clark" <>
References: <>
Subject: Consciousness rehash
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 12:22:48 -0400

In  #12663   On Thu, 28 Oct 1999 Wrote:

    >For Pete's sake, a stretched spring has the "goal" of shortening;
    >does this mean it feels discomfort when stretched and "wants" to relax?

It means that the springs emotional life is every bit as rich and deep as
its intellectual life.

    >Things that behave similarly in many, many cases  do not have similar
    >internals.

True, and a intelligent computer would have very different internals from
a human, but it could still behave the same. On the other hand, the internal
difference between you and your sleeping twin brother is very slight but
your behavior is profoundly different, and although I can't prove it I'll bet
dollars to donuts that your subjective experience is different too.

Other people are not identical to you and if behavior is no guide then
any tiny difference from you could (and sometimes definitely does)
signify a lack of sentience.


     >You  need to know more than external appearances to form strong
     >conclusions about  feeling.

If true then you must resign yourself to never forming a strong conclusion
about feeling. I don't think it's true.


    > A decoy may act like a duck, but it isn't a  duck.

Strange, I've never seen a decoy act like a duck,  but if I ever do encounter
such a wonder I will conclude that it feels like a duck

     John K Clark       

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