Sand wrote:
Whether you like it or not, without electro-chemical action there is no thought. Thought is not a ghostly phantom floating through the brain, it is a physical action of brain components.
Or both.
Really, unless there's something really special going on inside our heads at the subatomic level that we haven't found out yet, nervous function is essentially similar to the functions of various kinds of artificial computers, to the point that the techniques of emulating neural activity have improved rapidly since the idea was first introduced in the late 40's, from leech-like artificial brains in the early 90's to steadily starting to encroach on our territory in the present time. Our models are still kind of simple and only use the most obvious discrete (digital) function of neurons, sending '1' (firing) when they reach a certain threshold, and sending '0' (not firing) when they don't. Regardless, it's
really almost the same sh
it beyond that, just more elaborate and implemented a little differently ... the fact that ANNs don't use the continuous functions and other behaviors that real neurons have means diddlysquat to me about whether these additional processes leap over the infinitely wide chasm from objective electrochemical activity to subjective sensations that can't be characterized physically: they don't.
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"You can take me, but you cannot take my bunghole! For I have no bunghole! I am the Great Cornholio!"