DanArmak comments on How sure are you that brain emulations would be conscious? - Less Wrong

15 Post author: ChrisHallquist 26 August 2013 06:21AM

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Comment author: DanArmak 25 August 2013 02:27:22PM *  1 point [-]

You repeatedly miss the point of my argument. If you were teaching English to a foreign person, and your dictionary didn't contain the word "Conscoiusness", how would you explain what you meant by that word?

I'm not asking you to explain to an alien. You can rely on shared human intuitions and so on. I'm just asking you what the word means to you, because it demonstrably means different things to different people, even though they are all English users.

Comment author: Juno_Watt 25 August 2013 02:47:38PM -1 points [-]

I'm just asking you what the word means to you, because it demonstrably means different things to different people, even though they are all English users.

I have already stated those aspects of the meaning of "consciousness" necessary for my argument to go through. Why should I explain more?

Comment author: DanArmak 25 August 2013 03:05:50PM 1 point [-]

You mean these aspects?

1) something that is there or not (not a matter of interpretation or convention). 2) something that is not entirely inferable from behaviour.

A lot of things would satisfy that definition without having anything to do with "consciousness". An inert lump of metal stuck in your brain would satisfy it. Are you saying you really don't know anything significant about what the word "consciousness" means beyond those two requirements?