On Thu, 12 Jun 1997 Brent Allsop <allsop@swttools.fc.hp.com> Wrote:
>Abstract representation, though behaviorally similar is nothing like
>the phenomenal representations and feelings we use to represent
>information.
What's this "we" business? The only feelings you can detect directly are your
own, if you reject the evidence of behavior then there is no reason you could
not be the only conscious being in the universe.
>We must learn how to accurately reproduce the precise sensations and
>feelings we now use to represent our conscious knowledge, not just
>do it with abstract structures. I want red to be much more than a
>certain pattern of abstract bits in my future uploaded self.
Consciousness is overrated, you can get along fine without it. I'll let you
in on a little secret, I am not conscious and never have been, I've been on
the Extropian list for several years now and if anybody has suspected my
lack of sentience nobody has been unkind enough to say so. People like you
send me a string of ASCII characters and I send them a string of my own in
reply, and that's all it means to me.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.i
iQCzAgUBM6DbKn03wfSpid95AQFO/QTw2kqd1IbjaWgV/LNlDJDjtl3Thu1So0vq
fdSibLBwmh7/erztdbm30fG5O6ciCbTtTfjutThIdtHLZ1AxlNx4P2y9CUqt59GM
Oyp8Bv2iR9q2BU9FJalCxhpgaA1kuPDcAgtNMkw+XZ9wJ0nKoTJOLiAZY+qjZ09D
bJjUiECCSB+Ulzu+4/p5+m7Yk+AM6xg4qLlC2iGBcEZ56I1y2bw=
=BBVU
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----