Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!canon!rjf From: rjf@canon.co.uk (Robin Faichney) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: Testing for machine consciousness Message-ID: <1990Oct12.074325.688@canon.co.uk> Date: 12 Oct 90 07:43:25 GMT References: <3499@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <1990Oct4.154655.23004@canon.co.uk> <7@tdatirv.UUCP> <1990Oct8.120927.8648@canon.co.uk> <21@tdatirv.UUCP> Sender: Robin Faichney Reply-To: rjf@canon.co.uk Organization: Canon Research Europe, Guildford, UK Lines: 17 In article <21@tdatirv.UUCP> sarima@tdatirv.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) writes: >[..] >Consciousness appears to be based on a complex interaction amoung: internal >world models, self-monitoring, decision-making processes, spontaneous >learning, abstraction, and perhaps other things. >[..] >Thus, if we are conscious, and that consciousness is based in our machine-like >body functioning, then a machine may be conscious. [I base this on years of >study as a biologist]. Can anyone provide a pointer to objective evidence for the existence of consciousness? >In short, I think the distinction you are making between 'machine' and 'human' >is largely artificial, it is based on a false dualism. The distinction is in our minds.. ;-)