Category
Consciousness
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What is functionalism, and why do people think it supports machine consciousness?
People in AI discussions often say that "on a functionalist view" a machine could be conscious. I have a vague sense of what that means but I'd like to understand it properly. What exactly does functionalism claim? Why do people think it…
Started by Pieter van Dijkhuizen3 replies -
What is Mary’s Room actually supposed to show?
Frank Jackson's "Mary's Room" is easy to present badly, and I'd like to present it correctly at a study circle I'm leading. Mary is a brilliant neuroscientist who has lived her whole life in a black-and-white room. She knows every physical fact…
Started by Priya Raghavan4 replies -
My daughter asked where her mind is kept. Is Ryle’s ‘category mistake’ the answer?
My daughter is seven. Last week, while I was plaiting her hair, she asked me where her mind is kept. "Is it in my head, like my brain? Or is it behind my eyes?" I said it was in her brain, and…
Started by Thamarai Raman4 replies -
My daughter says the thermostat wants the room warmer. Is she wrong?
I spend my days answering my children's questions, and this one stumped me. We were cold, the heating clicked on, and my seven-year-old said, "The thermostat wants it warmer." Her brother said machines can't want anything. They looked at me. I said…
Started by Thamarai Raman4 replies -
Does general anaesthesia remove experience, or only our memory of it?
I work in hospital administration in Cairo, not medicine, but over the years I've heard a great many patients describe going under and coming back. Most say the same thing: one moment they were counting backwards, the next they were in recovery.…
Started by Omar Ragab5 replies -
What is Husserl’s “retention”, and how is it different from simply remembering?
I play the organ at a parish church in Kraków and teach music theory. Every Sunday I play hymns the congregation has sung hundreds of times, and every Sunday the same puzzle comes back to me. When the third note of a…
Started by Agnieszka Malinowska5 replies -
Does Spinoza solve the mind–body problem or just rename it?
I came to this site for philosophy of mind and stayed for Spinoza, so I owe the question. Spinoza's move, as I understand it: there is one substance, with infinitely many attributes, of which we know two, thought and extension. A mind…
Started by Pieter van Dijkhuizen4 replies