From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Thu Jan 17 2002 - 09:08:03 MST
Randall Randall <wolfkin@freedomspace.net> Wrote:
> Is this really so unclear that you thought that I had suddenly switched
> to arguing that other people aren't people?
Yes, you have been unclear. You say intelligence is not an indication of
consciousness but you believe other people are conscious, I know you
do, everybody does, and yet the only reason you have to think that is in
fact true is that other people act differently than rocks, at least when they're
not sleeping or dead; other people behave intelligently and rocks do not.
> I would guess that you have have arbitrarily complex problem solving
> without consciousness.
General problem solving? I don't think so, certainly evolution never figured
out how to do it unless you think that animals, though somewhat intelligent
are nevertheless no more conscious than rocks. That doesn't seem right.
I think general problem solving is indistinguishable from intelligence and
intelligence inevitably implies consciousness. I take this as one of the axioms
of existence because I could not function if I thought I was the only sentient
being in the universe. I take comfort that my axiom can never be proven wrong;
it's just a pity I can never be proven right either.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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