bigjeff5 comments on Heat vs. Motion - Less Wrong

19 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 01 April 2008 03:55AM

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Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 03 February 2011 07:38:57AM 3 points [-]

I'm guessing you don't mean the part where it says "complex and continuing philosophical dispute, see qualia".

Comment author: bigjeff5 03 February 2011 04:13:48PM *  6 points [-]

I'll be frank, I honestly do not understand where the philosophical dispute comes from. It seems incredibly silly to me.

The idea that a specific wavelength can trigger a specific electro-chemical response in a specific organ, which is then transmitted to a specific part of the brain which processes that response in a specific manner, but somehow the mental representation of such comes out of nowhere is nonsensical to me. Where would you even come up with such an idea?

Again I'm reminded of computer monitors. It's not magic by which they produce light of varying wavelengths and intensities on the screen, there is a real physical process going on. An electrical engineer could tell you all about in extensive detail.

Computers can distinguish between various colors very well, and can even process those colors without any light as input.

What do computers "see" when they see color?