Human Consciousness: not a hard problem (Humans)

by David Turell , Monday, January 18, 2016, 21:52 (3230 days ago) @ 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.-Yes I can. You forget that I view the brain as a receiver of consciousness, as the NDE researchers feel.-> 
> dhw: So far, so good. Yes, the content of consciousness is information, -But the mechanism of consciousness is not information as you point out below.
> 
> "The brain processes information. (My bold - see lower down.) It focuses its processing resources on this or that chunk of data. That's the complex, mechanistic act of a massive computer. The brain also describes this act to itself. That description, shaped by millions of years of evolution, weird and quirky and stripped of details, depicts a “me” and a state of subjective consciousness.”-> dhw: The confusion is typified - you won't like this, but I am actually on your side here - in his use of the word “information”, highlighted below:
> 
> QUOTE: “The study of consciousness needs to be lifted out of the mysticism that has dominated it. Consciousness is not just a matter of philosophy, opinion, or religion. It's a matter of hard science. It's a matter of understanding the brain and the mind—a trillion-stranded sculpture made out of information. (My bold) It's also a matter of engineering. If we can understand the functionality of the brain, then we can build the same functionality into our computers..."-I don't believe his optimism at all.
> 
> dhw: Earlier he said the brain processes information (my bold). Yes. But now he says the brain and the mind...are made out of information (my bold). This means firstly that information processes information. -I've agreed with you above-> dhw: But we are now talking specifically about consciousness, and he takes it for granted that the brain and the CONSCIOUS mind are synonymous. ....What this boils down to, therefore, is a very simple hypothesis: if the mind and the brain are synonymous, and consciousness is the PRODUCT of materials, it should be possible for us to create artificial consciousness. But the “if” is the big question, and until we know the SOURCE of consciousness (if we ever do), his musings are based on a purely subjective assumption.-Agreed. My current solution, until something better comes along, is that the brain is a receiver of consciousness. It fits the NDE experiences that survive clinical death when the brain is not working.