Re: What exactly is "panpsychism"?

From: Yan King Yin (y.k.y@lycos.com)
Date: Mon Jan 12 2004 - 00:02:41 MST


>Metaqualia wrote:

>>> You are soooo close. The paradox can be resolved by widening back
>>> your conceptual point of view.
>>> * Yes, there is no intrinsic separation between what we classify as
>>> objects in the universe.
>>
>> That's what I guessed.
>>
>>> * Yes, the process produces a first-person experience that appears
>>> to be localized.
>>
>> ok so then any possible combination of atoms doing anything at all in
>> the universe creates a first-person experience and moravec is right.

I think David Chalmers and some other philosophers
have got it right already, it's called functionalism.
Basically any structure with information-processing
abilities will generate qualia, and the qualia is
*independent* of space-scale, time-scale, and
substrate. It could be neurons, silicon, it could be
intergalactic (if you can muster up so much energy),
it could execute only 1 instruction per a million year.

It also appears that positive and negative qualia
may be quantified. Our decisions are just some winner-
-takes-all processes in the neural networks of our
brains. Maybe there's a mathematical way to quantify
the "strengthes" of attractors (and "repellers"?)...

YKY

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