Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!markh From: markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark William Hopkins) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: Conciousness Message-ID: <11611@uwm.edu> Date: 1 May 91 00:59:55 GMT References: <2102@seti.inria.fr> <2124@seti.inria.fr> Sender: news@uwm.edu Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Lines: 21 Some answers... In article <2124@seti.inria.fr> ziane@nuri.inria.fr (ziane mikal @) writes: >I can easily immagine an intelligent computer and I can also immagine >a computer with a conciousness. However I have some difficulty to immagine >a computer having pain. I have some difficulty to understand what it means. Consciousness pervades everything even "inanimate" objects like machines. What makes us different from objects is only that we have sufficient intelligence and self-awareness to see that part that pervades us. A neurocomputer that becomes intelligent will not suddenly become conscious. It always was. What it WILL suddenly become is AWARE of that fact... So it's not whether it experiences pain or not, it's whether it knows it's experiencing pain or not. Pain won't even bother me, a fully cognizant and intelligent being, if I don't know it's there (like when under anaesthesia). >Any reference about the classic "other minds" problem ? There's only one consciousness, that's why we all only experience one...