Re:Why can’t the world’s greatest minds solve the mystery of...
by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday January 21, 2015 @02:59PM
(#8925282)
I think that there are two possible definitions, and they get confused. This confusion does not help us to think clearly about the question.
Definition 1: Consciousness is awareness of your external environment. By that definition, my dog is conscious, insects are, and cars are becoming so. And if cars are conscious, then this must be a mechanistic property - it just takes enough sensors (and perhaps complex enough wiring).
Definition 2: Consciousness is awareness of your own awareness - being able to watch yourself think, and to think about thinking. By that definition, humans are conscious, but I'm not sure about dogs, or even apes. It is much less clear that this is purely mechanistic.
But when we have these discussions, it's going to be helpful to specify which version we're talking about.
Definition 1: Consciousness is awareness of your external environment. By that definition, my dog is conscious, insects are, and cars are becoming so. And if cars are conscious, then this must be a mechanistic property - it just takes enough sensors (and perhaps complex enough wiring).
Definition 2: Consciousness is awareness of your own awareness - being able to watch yourself think, and to think about thinking. By that definition, humans are conscious, but I'm not sure about dogs, or even apes. It is much less clear that this is purely mechanistic.
But when we have these discussions, it's going to be helpful to specify which version we're talking about.