[Wittrs] Re: On the Mechanism of Understanding
- From: "Stuart W. Mirsky" <SWMirsky@xxxxxxx>
- To: Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:33:59 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "blroadies" <blroadies@...> wrote:
>
>
> --- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Stuart W. Mirsky" <SWMirsky@> wrote:
>
> > So you are "saying" that there is no possibility that science could
> someday produce a machine that has consciousness, has a mind?
>
> For the record, I'm hopeful that we will build creatures with minds.
> What substance they will be made of (maybe we'll discover some new
> stuff), or whether they will be considered "computers" (word meaning
> changes in time) is open.
>
> But-- While this wonderful accomplishment will provide new grist for the
> Monism/Dualism mill, it can't possibly resolve it. Why? Because the
> conceptual question of the relationship between mind and body is simply
> replicated in this new creature as it will be in those space aliens I
> guess I'm too old to ever meet.
>
> bruce
>
If by some chance we succeed as a species in building a synthetic
consciousness, and we can all agree it is conscious (has a mind), then the
mind-body problem will solve itself for those who accept that. For the rest,
well it's the nature of philosophical "problems" that they are never solved for
those who continue to be troubled which is to say they are solved one person at
a time. As long as one continues perplexed, the problem remains a problem for
that person. -- SWM
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