From: Norman Noman (overturnedchair@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Aug 18 2007 - 00:21:20 MDT
> Biases like these which are built into the brain override logic. Logic
> tells
> you that the brain is a computer. Logic tells you that it does not
> require a
> consciousness to function. Logic tells you there is no test to
> distinguish
> between an actual consciousness and a belief in consciousness. But your
> bias
> says "I exist". This conflict leads to bizarre conclusions. For example,
> uploading. If you make an identical copy of yourself and then the
> original
> dies, then your consciousness transfers to the copy. But what if you
> don't
> die? Which of you is "you"?
Oh, what does this have to do with ANYTHING, lloyd?
So yes, there is a powerful intelligence controlling your thought. It is
> evolution. The information content of all the DNA on earth far exceeds
> that
> of your brain. Logic says your brain is a computer. But if you actually
> believed it, your DNA would not propagate.
Evolution is not an intelligence, and there is no evolved mental block
stopping us from believing our brains are computers. It's not something
which would come up in the ancestral environment, and it's not something
which even particularly influences reproductive success today. As a matter
of fact I DO believe my brain is a computer.
The kind of difficulty you are talking about, in correctly framing
philosophical problems, is something we can overcome with sufficient time
and clarity. It is far from being an absolute mental block.
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