From: Matt Mahoney (matmahoney@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Feb 23 2009 - 07:07:05 MST
--- On Mon, 2/23/09, Stuart Armstrong <dragondreaming@googlemail.com> wrote:
> > I also believe that I am not conscious (because there
> would be absolutely no change in my behavior if I was).
>
> Meaning that, from your point of view, the word conscious is
> meaningless - since its presence or abscence has no observable
> consequences.
>
> You need to do a bit more work on your definition, because for the
> moment, saying "everyone is programmed to believe they are conscious"
> is also a meaningless statement.
By "consciousness" I mean the common definition of what we call awareness or qualia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness
or more clearly, that which distinguishes a human from a philosophical zombie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie
which of course has no meaning when you analyze it, but still it is that thing that everyone wants to preserve in themselves.
-- Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo.com
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