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HeatDeath comments on Open Thread, May 1-15, 2012 - Less Wrong
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It occurred to me that I have no idea what people mean by the word "observer". Rather, I don't know if a solid reductionist definition for observation exists. The best I can come up with is "an optimization process that models its environment". This is vague enough to include everything we associate with the word, but it would also include non-conscious systems. Is that okay? I don't really know.
It occurs to me, reading your post, that I have almost no idea what people mean by "conscious system". I'm quite certain I am one, and I regularly experience other people apparently claiming to belong to that set too. I suspect that if we can nail down what it means to belong to the set of "conscious systems", we'll be much more readily able to determine if not being a member of that set disqualifies a thing from being an "observer".
I suppose you're right. Although it's pretty easy for me to imagine something that is "conscious" that isn't an "observer" i.e., a mind without sensory capabilities. I guess I was just wondering whether our common (non-rigorous) definitions of the two concepts are independent.