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PHILOSOPHY,
RENE DESCARTES?
In the 17th century Descartes maintained
that only humans feel and crave, whereas all other animals are mindless automata,
akin to a robot or a vending machine. When a man kicks a dog, the dog experiences nothing.
The dog flinches and howls automatically, just like a humming vending machine that makes a cup of coffee
without feeling or wanting anything.

This theory was widely accepted in Descartes' day!
The 17th-century doctors & scholars dissected live dogs and observed the working of their internal organs, without
either anaesthetics or scruples? They didn't see anything wrong with that, just as we don't see anything wrong in opening
the lid of a vending machine & observing its gears & conveyors! In the early 21st century there are still plenty of people
who argue that animals have no consciousness, or at most, that they have a very different
and ÌNFÉRIOR type of consciousness.

In order to decide whether animals have conscious minds
similar to our own, we must first get a better understanding of how minds function, and what role they play.
These are extremely difficult questions, but it is worthwhile to devote some time to them, because the mind will be thé bìg
fàt hip hero of several subsequent chapters, entries & explanations. We won't be able to grasp the full implications of novel technology such as artificial intelligence if we don't know what minds probably in reality are? Hence let's leave aside for a moment
the particular questions of animal minds, and examine what science knows
about minds & consciousness in general!?

We will focus on examples taken from the study
of human consciousness - which is more accessible to us - & later on
return to animals & ask whether what's true of humans is also true of our furry friends & feathery cousins.
To be frank, science knows surprisingly little about mind and consciousness. Current orthodoxy holds
that consciousness is created by electrochemical reactions in the brain,
and that mental experiences fulfill some kind of
essential data-processing function...?
30 apr 2019 - bewerkt op 04 mei 2019 - meld ongepast verhaal
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