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calef comments on [LINK] Could a Quantum Computer Have Subjective Experience? - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: shminux 26 August 2014 06:55PM

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Comment author: calef 29 August 2014 01:50:27AM *  0 points [-]

I'm suggesting that the person running the simulation knows the state of the simulation at all times. If this bothers you, pretend everything is being done digitally, on a classical computer, with exponential slowdown.

Such a calculation can be done reversibly without ever passing information into the system.

Comment author: [deleted] 29 August 2014 02:12:48AM *  3 points [-]

What do you mean by "knows the state of the simulation"? What is the point of this exercise?

Yes the machine running the simulation knows the current state of the simulation at any given point (ignoring fully homomorphic encryption). It must however forget this intermediate state when the computation is reversed, including any copies/checkpoints it has. Otherwise we're not talking about a reversible process. Do we agree on this point?

My original post was:

Giving answers is an irreversible operation. The whole "is a fully reversible computer conscious?" thing doesn't really make sense to me -- for the computer to actually have an effect on the world requires irreversible outputs. So I have trouble imagiing scenarios where my expectactions are different but the entire process remains reversible...

How does your setup of a simulated person performing mathmatics, then being forgotten as the simulation is run backwards address this concern?

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