FFFFUUUUUUUUUU

[LMNO]

That could also conceivably be a Discworld plot.  Damn Alzheimer's.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Let me summarize, using words that other people wrote:

1. We're made out of meat.

2. We don't know what we don't know.

After that there are reams of blah blah blah about his pet theory, posthumanism, and what it all means. I swear to god, philosophers just seem to want to suck all the magic out of science.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yes, he has some other posts where he uses his more normal writing style, which is very eloquent (as you'd expect from a professional writer).

He's also fully aware that the language of philosophy is probably second only to the language of critical literary theory in terms of being incomprehensible to outsiders.  He has in fact written an (as far unpublished) parody literary novel based around this premise.

If by "incomprehensible" you mean fucking retarded, I am in 100% agreement.

[EK WAFFLR]

philosophers just seem to want to suck all the magic out of science.

BEST THING I'VE HEARD SAID ABOUT PHILOSOPHY EVER

[Cain]

I don't know, I couldn't understand it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I am closing my eyes and imagining the satisfying "thunk thunk thunk schwwwp" and the lovely red spreading out into the water.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

philosophers just seem to want to suck all the magic out of science.

BEST THING I'VE HEARD SAID ABOUT PHILOSOPHY EVER

[Doktor Howl]

Perhaps Hofsteader has some insight?


Crudely put, if you stack enough high-function metaprocessors on top of the sensory equipment, the possibility of emergence may increase.  That is to say, you can't "program" consciousness, but you can create fertile environments which may foster it.

Also, an AI that was smart enough to be self-aware would be smart enough to hide it.

Just a thought.

[LMNO]

Point the first: This reminds me of when I find myself in a room full of stupid people. Don't let them find out.

Point the second:

I require giant robots that run like horses.

For some reason, I found that hauntingly poetic and awesome.  And now I want one.

I was reading through the thread and had the exact same thought as I did five years ago.






Point the third: FIVE YEARS AGO?!

[Doktor Howl]

Point the first: This reminds me of when I find myself in a room full of stupid people. Don't let them find out.

Point the second:

I require giant robots that run like horses.

For some reason, I found that hauntingly poetic and awesome.  And now I want one.

I was reading through the thread and had the exact same thought as I did five years ago.






Point the third: FIVE YEARS AGO?!

Dude, we've been here for more than 12 years.

[LMNO]

I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed.

The correct answer is "old". You should feel old.

[hooplala]

Point the first: This reminds me of when I find myself in a room full of stupid people. Don't let them find out.

Point the second:

I require giant robots that run like horses.

For some reason, I found that hauntingly poetic and awesome.  And now I want one.

I was reading through the thread and had the exact same thought as I did five years ago.






Point the third: FIVE YEARS AGO?!

Dude, we've been here for more than 12 years.

My ten year anniversary was actually last month.

*blows noise maker*

[Cainad (dec.)]

A mere seven and a half-ish years.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

Much like positing a creator deity*, positing a non-physical element of consciousness merely hides the problem at hand somewhere where its continued presence is not immediately apparent. Because regardless of whether the mind is composed of flesh and nerve impulses or if it's made out of ectoplasm/pnuema/n-rays/P.K.E./vibrations/positive-and-negative-furies/massacred-space-aliens/monads/aether/any other kind of woo-woo BS, that doesn't change the fact that there must be some mechanism by which it performs its function; so all dualism does is  add epicycles and multiplies assumptions needlessly.



*Which raises the question of where the creator deity came from and therefore merely makes the question of origin more complex rather than answering it