Human Consciousness: not a hard problem (Humans)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 19, 2016, 15:28 (3013 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: I think we've exhausted the difference-in-kind argument, but there is a major problem here which ties in with this present post on the subject of AI and consciousness. If you favour dualism - a separation between mind and body - you cannot attribute human intelligence to a code in the DNA.-DAVID: Yes I can. You forget that I view the brain as a receiver of consciousness, as the NDE researchers feel.-It's no use having a receiver if there is nothing to receive! The whole point here is that the author believes the brain is the PRODUCER of consciousness, and that is why he thinks we'll be able to create artificial consciousness. I should make it clear that I remain neutral on the subject, but I object to the author's assumption of materialism. You have agreed with everything else I wrote, which includes what lies at the very heart of the author's argument - namely, the not unusual failure to distinguish between information and the mechanism that processes it. (“It's a matter of understanding the brain and the mind - a trillion-stranded sculpture made out of information[/b].”) BBella has reinforced the point (under "David Deutsch"):-BBella The quote above reminds me of a quote by Mortimer Adler: "The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea."
The space between information and intelligence is eternally wide but both are needed to create reality.-I can only add that far too many writers, including the author whose essay we have just dissected, fail to distinguish between the two, which results in a misleading and confusing use of the word “information”. I may have complained about that before...