-----Original Message-----
From: Damien Broderick <d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au>
To: extropians@extropy.com <extropians@extropy.com>
Date: Saturday, December 11, 1999 7:29 PM
Subject: Re: q*****
>At 09:54 PM 11/12/99 -0500, Dan wrote, after his customary insanely
>irritating:
>>'What is your name?' 'Zeb Haradon.' 'IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME
>>IS!!!':
>
>>Your answer amounts to, "well, it would feel different if I were a zombie,
>>that is, it wouldn't feel like anything at all!" but if you were a zombie,
>>you would think/say exactly that! Sure, you can CLAIM that you have an
>>inner life, but you may be decieved in exactly the same way a zombie would
>>be deceived.
>
>But this is just the auto-deconstruction of the very concept `zombie' that
>undoes the whole thought experiment. As people have noted for years, it's
>like proposing a universe exactly like ours where molecules bash against
>each other but there is no `heat'.
Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Is consciousness the same thing as
cognition, experienced at a different level? I think so, the evidence is
strong THAT it is, but I'm really not sure yet HOW it is.
molecular motion and heat are the same thing, by definition. To postulate
molecular motion without heat, you must be talking about a different
definition of "heat". Consciousness and cognition may ultimately be the same
thing (experienced in different ways), but this is yet to be proven. Do you
understand the difference?
To talk about molecular motion without heat is the same as talking about
bachelors who are not unmarried men, or cheeseburgers that are not
hamburgers with cheese on them.
consciousness and cognition being the same thing is more like the morning
star and evening star being the same thing. It was discovered that they
were - but this had to be proven with empirical work. They are not the same
thing by definition of the terms "the morning star" and "the evening star".
(maybe they are today - but let's suppose it's a few thousand years ago
before it was discovered that they are both venus)
>
>Damien Broderick (AND IT FUCKING WELL DOES MATTER WHAT MY NAME IS)