I’m in my Head, Thinking my Thoughts

Mar 1, 2021Philosophy/Ethics, Tech0 comments

By ratiocination, I mean computation. […] all ratiocination is comprehended in these two operations of the mind, addition and substraction.

Thomas Hobbes, De Corpore, 1655

 

https://www.consciousentities.com/2013/02/feral-neurons/

 

In this post the dialogue is realised by an interaction of virtual characters, for more information please check the page “Virtual characters

Julia

Thanks again for all the information! 🙏

I’ve vastly improved my essay already 😊

Today 11:32  

Cho

I also learnt a great deal. I am used to just thinking of brains as machinery ⚙️

Today 11:36   

Julia

There actually is a position a bit like that … 🤷🏼‍♀️

Today 11:36  

Cho

You mean the one with the “homunculi” … ?                                  

Today 11:37

Julia

Right, that’s latin for “little person”…

you’d actually be like a little man sitting in a theatre, looking at all your sensations, and trying to make sense of them

Today 11:38   

Cho

You’re making me regret not having done latin and greek now … 😅

but isn’t that the position he criticizes?

Today 11:40  

Julia

Yes, but he changes it around a bit.

If the actual “you” would be like a little person in your head, wouldn’t this “little person” need one of their own?

Today 11:42   

 

Cho

Right, an infinite regress of observes within observers that in the end fail to explain anything about consciousness

Today 11:43 

Julia

Indeed, then he came up with the idea of a whole bunch of “homunculi” that do really simple stuff, like detect lines or colors, 

Today 11:44   

Julia

then some combining those into simple shapes, like “read triangle”, and further down the line complex shapes, like “a rose” 🌹 

Today 11:44   

Cho

And that sounds a bit weird, but then he links that to neural machinery, and it becomes almost trivial … 😊

Today 11:45   

Julia

But he means it like a kind of mental software running on the neural hardware, it is not exactly like the identity theory

Today 11:46   

Cho

No, that’s right, you explain that very clearly in the paper 📄Someone like that would argue that you can run the same software on many different types of hardware

Today 11:46   

Julia

Yes, so that would account for neurodiversity? Right?

Today 11:47

Cho

I’m quite tempted to say yes, it does sound very convincing, but then he wants to run it on computers too …

Today 11:48   

 

Julia

You think that can’t be done?

Today 11:49 

Cho

Well, I’m no programmer, but at least nowadays I don’t think we have computers that are big enough or fast enough.

So, … maybe?🤔

Today 11:49   

Julia

Do you think there is something special about the brain itself that allows us to think and be conscious?

Today 11:50 

Cho

Ah! I can see where you are going with this. That’s Searle’s theory, right?

Today 11:50   

Julia

Right!

Today 11:51 

Cho

I’ll have to think about it a bit more …🧐                                            

Today 11:52   

… Continue to read the conversation between Julia and Cho 
on Saturday 6th February…

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Mental Brains (Part 2/4)

I’m in my head thinking my thoughts (this article, Part 3/4)

Mind over matter (Part 4/4)

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