Re:The unending quest to explain consciousness
by adrianN on Friday December 06, 2019 @04:18AM
(#21720260)
Rocks also have complex internal structure that responds to external influence, e.g. atoms vibrating in their crystal lattices depending on heat and pressure. Maybe there is a Boltzmann consciousness inside the rock when you're picking it up. What is "information" and what is noise is a matter of interpretation.
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Re:The unending quest to explain consciousness
by hackinthebochs on Friday December 06, 2019 @01:19PM
(#21724520)
Rocks have random structure, not complex structure. Randomness does not entail consciousness. A feature of consciousness is that it is informative: it informs you about the external state of the world or about internal processes. But a random configuration of molecules carry no information. (A random string is information but it doesn't carry information, i.e. mutual information with another structure.)
Re:The unending quest to explain consciousness
by pygy_ on Friday December 06, 2019 @04:55AM
(#21720412)
There may be some consciousness in the rock.
The gist of these theories is that consciousness is isomorphic to specific aspects of information processing that can be quantified.
Re:The unending quest to explain consciousness
by BlueTemplar on Friday December 06, 2019 @08:30AM
(#21721574)
The levels of complexity involved are hardly comparable...