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originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: Astrocyte
I think our brains are simply a physical collection of organic matter and chemicals that, when working together, interact in such a way to form what we call consciousness.
So if the brain is just physical material, and what we call consciousness emerges from that material, it seems that (theoretically, at least) a machine could be built that does the same thing. I'm not saying we could build such a machine anytime soon, but that doesn't mean that such a machine will never be possible.
Really? Why can some very smart animals like dolphins and elephants recognize themselves in a mirror?
This argument doesn't really make sense because digital life forms still require energy to survive, computing requires some resources, especially the heavy computations required to produce a conscious machine
. Also this argument that consciousness cannot arise without evolution is some what flawed because there is a thing called evolutionary algorithms which simulate the process of evolution by applying ideas from genetics and biology, incorporating ideas like survival of the fittest to apply an evolutionary pressure, thus giving the digital creatures a need to fulfill certain tasks in their virtual environment if they want to stay alive.
An algorithm is not an equation, it's instructions for manipulating binary data.
originally posted by: Astrocyte
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
You have an overly simplistic understanding of the matter.
The "meat machine" is a dumb-cliché; it isn't true just because it is a popular thing to say (and how it could ever get popular is a function of a culture that discourages self-awareness...
originally posted by: dfnj2015
originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: Astrocyte
I think our brains are simply a physical collection of organic matter and chemicals that, when working together, interact in such a way to form what we call consciousness.
So if the brain is just physical material, and what we call consciousness emerges from that material, it seems that (theoretically, at least) a machine could be built that does the same thing. I'm not saying we could build such a machine anytime soon, but that doesn't mean that such a machine will never be possible.
You can't prove a negative. But if you study the Von Neuman computer architecture and the get-fetch-execute cycle of the microprocess NOTHING has changed in the computers since the beginning. The most basic building block of a computer is a NAND gate. Whether you have 1 NAND gate or a trillion, computers still have exactly the same one thought. It never changes. And it repeats perfectly.
Let me give you an analogy of why what you are saying is so crazy. It would be like saying the field next to your house has a pretty arrangement of rocks (NAND gates). And at some point those rocks are going to self-assemble into high consciousness, assemble into an auto-bot type robot that comes over to destroy your house. I'm not saying the rocks are going to self-assemble anytime soon, but that doesn't mean the rocks can't self-assemble or it will never be possible. You see, you understand rocks. But just because you don't understand NAND gates you have a superstitious mythology about computers.
Everything on a computer is dumb with no self awareness. Computer is just a glorified calculator able to sutract two numbers and making a decision about what to subtract next. Intelligence is a whole lot more than just subtracting or adding two numbers together.
Sorry, no matter how pretty the rocks look, they are still just rocks.