X-Message-Number: 21341
From: 
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 13:25:15 EST
Subject: objective subjective

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Mike Perry writes in part:

> I see no way, in principle, of ever establishing scientifically 
> whether you should think of such a creature as "really" conscious or just a 
> 
> good, but stone dead, imitation.

In practice, as Mike and many others have frequently noted, if a clanking 
alien were to appear, claiming to be alive and not an automaton, it might be 
prudent as well as humane to give it the benefit of the doubt. But in some 
circumstances it might not.

It might also be difficult to ascertain, but it is by no means out of the 
question to establish some probabilities.
We can potentially determine which physical phenomena constitute qualia by 
correlating features of various types of brain scans with verbal reporting 
(of numbers of similar subjects in a variety of situations), by correlating 
suspect scan features with other brain features known to be associated with 
feeling either as input or output--and possibly one day by a kind of 
electronic mental telepathy, so that observers actually share the experience. 
It is just not true that subjective experience is necessarily totally 
private.

Robert Ettinger

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