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PhilGoetz comments on Eight questions for computationalists - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: dfranke 13 April 2011 12:46PM

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 14 April 2011 10:59:03PM 0 points [-]
  1. There is no such thing as an abstract machine, nor an abstract computation. If you imagine a machine adding two and two, the computation is implemented in your brain, which holds a representation of the operations. Physics is information; information is also physics. There is no information without a physical embodiment; there is no computation without physical operations.

  2. Humans don't have infinite memory, and thus are less-powerful than Turing machines.

  3. "Computing red": Please put more words into that phrase. It's too ambiguous to deal with.

  4. Functions vs. algorithms: This is a good question. Can a lookup table be conscious? I said no. Therefore I must choose 'algorithm'.

  5. A theory that explains consciousness should be statable in abstract terms using mathematical operations.

  6. Yes, a theory that explains consciousness must explain qualia.

  7. Answering that question would mislead people more than it would inform.