X-Message-Number: 22272
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 08:04:54 -0700
Subject: Simulated consciousness (was Simulating a human brain...)
From:  (Tim Freeman)

From: Francois <>
>Ok, lets push this as far as it can go. Suppose you build the
>simulated brain out of simulated atoms. Compared to a brain, atoms are
>quite simple.  ... Would such a humongous program be sentient?

One standard argument against this is that simulated consciousness,
self-awareness, emotions, etc., aren't consciousness, self-awareness,
emotions, etc., for the same reason that simulated milk on the
breakfast cereal isn't very filling.  A simulation of a thing is not
the thing.

I have not read a good response to this, but I believe this is one: A
simulated calculator is a fine calculator (I carry one with me all the
time and it works!), and in general a simulation of something has all
the computational properties of the thing itself.  So we have to
decide whether emotions etc. are computational properties.  I think
they are; a simulated Robert Ettinger would purport to be just as
convinced about self-circuits as the real Robert Ettinger, assuming
the self-circuit, if any, was included in the simulation, and the
simulated Ettinger would project the same level of stubbornness and
any other emotions that might be generated by the real Ettinger.
Since it would have the same evidence available as the real Ettinger
and it would reach the same conclusions, its arguments would be just
as valid as those of the original.

Even my own emotions are a computational property.  For all I know,
the aliens landed while I was sleeping last night, ate all or part of
my brain, and replaced the part they consumed with some other device
that simulates the original computation.  If it's a simulation that
gets the same job done as the original, and I don't get my head
x-rayed, I'd never know.  By Occam's razor, there's no point in
distinguishing between two entities if the distinction doesn't make a
difference, so it makes sense to say that a simulation of an emotion
is the emotion.  

It would be fun to confront the simulated Ettinger with an x-ray of
his head.  "This large gray area is a sponge to keep loose parts from
rattling around, and the centrally-located speck with all the wires
coming out is the computational node.  Be sure to recharge it
regularly by sleeping on this pillow, and plug in the pillow.  The
original had a non-functioning self-circuit, possibly due to some head
injury when you were a child.  Since it didn't work during almost all
of your life we left it out of this simulation."  That's a project for
some other decade.

Okay, so I'm being provocative.  Tee hee.
-- 
Tim Freeman                                                  
GPG public key fingerprint ECDF 46F8 3B80 BB9E 575D  7180 76DF FE00 34B1 5C78 

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