Artificial consciousness

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See http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/16 ... :int=2&-C=

Beware of simulations. During a simulated rainstorm you do not need an umbrella and rubber shoes.

ruveyn

I enjoyed reading that, very interesting. I have had ideas lately about machines and computers in future that can read the DNA of say a male and female egg and sperm and then combine the chromosomes. Then it could simulate the development of that individual embryo possibly as far as old age (fully grown person). It would require some arbitrary inputs along the way, and possibly a virtual environment for the simulated person to 'grow up' in. You could then ask the person questions and they would answer very much as the real person would. In that sense it would be a real person's conciousness, that does not physically exist yet.

However fancy the simulation it is and will always be a cartoon of the real thing which is much more complicated. To make a model one must leave out a billion little details and make an assumption as to which properties of the system simulated are essential properties.

ruveyn

And that makes a HUGE assumption that DNA determines your consciousness. DNA sets brain structure, but is that what makes you who you are?

Mostly my working brain along with the glands.

ruveyn

I imagine that the primary objective of simulating a particular conciousness in the way I described is to study it. You mention "essential properties", and I think this comes down to what you are looking to find out. For example you could use the simulation to study the brains response to hyper stressful situations, by placing the individual on the front lines of a war. That is not a typical life experience for most people (these days anyway). Then you may like to look at how PTSD develops and therefore later improved ways of treating it. I mean that is just one very limited example, the possibilities and uses for the technology would be endless. Both positive and negative, again depending on individual perspective.

Oh wow! It's klox! I agree 1,000%

If a person is unaware of a mental problem, then that person would refuse to acknowledge an objective point of view. I guess, if a person does wish to compare his/her experiences with a qualified psychologist, this will potentially put him/her in this category of Anosognosia .

I guess the question is, have you spoken to a qualified therapist lately?

Last time I did it was May '08.

Luckily, I went to someone who is a deist. I think if I had gone to some schmuck atheist, I'd be in a mental ward by now. How do you measure what you believe to be right? If you live in a cult, it's hard to decipher what is real. If you follow your heart, you will be construed as a weirdo at best.

You're a member of a cult, correct? You seem to be a member of some sort of religious cult group. Right after you mention a 'deist' I got the feeling that you're a member of a cult. Your sentences after the mentioning of this 'deist' you wrote, didn't help.

my conscious is purely artificial.

that is a very good point but if not DNA what could it be?

DNA determines the basic blueprint, but your brain changes as you learn new things. The human brain is a general adaptive learning system.

It's a bit like the difference between hardware and software (although that's not a perfect analogy).

and people learn diferent things and diferent rate.. but what causes us to learn.....