Spinoza’s God: Einstein believed in it, but what was it?

Re:Spinoza’s God: Einstein believed in it, but what was it? by ImprobableTruth on Thursday October 14, 2021 @06:15PM (#28870913)

Huh? Subjective experience is about whether the machine experiences the power-on-self-test, not about what it emits externally. Animals, machines or even rocks might all be conscious, but we simply don't know because it's impossible to ascertain through external means.

>What's incomprehensible is the baseless belief that consciousness is some special state of existence unique to balding, violent apes floating around a wet rock, anthropomorphizing all the crap around them just to make themselves feel special.

What a ridiculous strawman.

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Re:Spinoza’s God: Einstein believed in it, but what was it? by badinfo on Friday October 15, 2021 @11:16AM (#28878645)

> but we simply don't know because it's impossible to ascertain through external means.

Yeah, exactly. We haven't developed a good enough Turing test -- for machines, people, or gods.

> What a ridiculous strawman.

I don't believe is a strawman as much as you think it is. A lot of arguments for consciousness derive from the desire for humans to be special, which is in turn derived from Abrahamic cosmology that places us directly beneath their God.

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Re:Spinoza’s God: Einstein believed in it, but what was it? by bserge on Friday October 15, 2021 @02:42AM (#28875007)

A machine does "experience" it, even if through a very limited number of sensors and logic.

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