TheAncientGeek comments on Confused as to usefulness of 'consciousness' as a concept - LessWrong

35 Post author: KnaveOfAllTrades 13 July 2014 11:01AM

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Comment author: TheAncientGeek 14 July 2014 06:49:19PM 4 points [-]

Is it possible to fake introspection without having introspection?

Comment author: Bugmaster 14 July 2014 06:53:57PM 2 points [-]

As far as I understand, at least some philosophers would say "yes", although admittedly I'm not sure why.

Additionally, in this specific case, it might be possible to fake introspection of something other than one's own system. After all, System B just needs to fool the observer into thinking that it's conscious at all, not that it's conscious about anything specific. Insofar as that makes any sense...

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 14 July 2014 07:42:58PM -1 points [-]

As far as I understand, at least some philosophers would say "yes", although admittedly I'm not sure why.

Functional equivalence.

Comment author: Bugmaster 15 July 2014 12:16:21AM 1 point [-]

I'm not sure what you mean; can you elaborate ?

Comment author: TheAncientGeek 15 July 2014 05:29:52PM 0 points [-]

A functional equivlent of a person would make the same reports, including apparently introspective ones. However,they would not have the same truth values. They might report that they area real person, not a simulation. So a a lot depends on whether introspection unintended as a success word.