RE: Conscious of the hard problem

O'Regan, Emlyn (Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au)
Wed, 23 Jun 1999 13:56:14 +1000

Dr Bates wrote:

> the only hard problem, IMHO, is keeping all the philosophers who want to
> waste our lives talking about the hard problem instead of solving the
> series
> of "easy" problems, which is all there really is.
>
> This "hard problem" phrase is really just an ambit claim for high
> intellectual ground, ie., "oh yes, but you biopsych's only study the
> non-hard problem ..."
>

[blah snipped]

Tell that you would *personally* consider uploading - copying self to machine then chopping up original body for dogfood - without someone first assuring you, beyond all doubt, that it really would be you in that computer. I wouldn't, but then I'm entirely ego driven.

I find it intensely interesting that the "hard problem" is actually moving from the domain of the esoteric philosophy to that of a concrete, real world problem which desperately needs to be resolved. It may be that uploading needs to become possible before the problem can be solved; then we have something of an experimental paradigm available.

Emlyn
Hint: Don't upload the rodents as test, Tranhuman models. That's what they've been waiting for...