34794YTHS124 What Exactly Are The Conscious Ex-
PERIENCES THAT CONSTITUTE THE FLOW OF THE MIND?
Every subjective experience had two fundamental characteristics: sensation & desire!
Robots & computers have no consciousness because despite their obvious myriad abilities they feel nothing & crave
nothing. A robot may have an energy sensor that signals to its central processing unit when the battery is about to run out...
The robot may then move towards an electrical socket, plug itself in & recharge its battery?! However, throughout this proces
the robot does not experience anything! In contrast, a human being depleted of energy feels hunger & craved to stop this unpleasant sensation? That's why we say that humans are conscious beings & robots are nòt, & why it is a crime to make people work until they collapse from hunger, thirst & exhaustion, whereas making robots work until their batteries run out carried no moral opprobrium....
And what about animals? Are they conscious? Do they have subjective experiences? Is it okay to force a horse to work until it collapses from exhaustion? As noted earlier, the life sciences currently argue that all màmmals & birds, & at least some reptiles & fish, dó háve sensations & emotions! However, the most up-to-date theories also maintain that sensations & emotions are {'just'} biochemical data-processing algorithms?! Since we know that robots & computers process data without having any subjective experiences, maybe it works the same way with animals? Indeed, we know that even in humans many sensory & emotional brain circuits can process data & initiate actions completely unconsciously! So perhaps behind all the sensations & emotions we ascribe to animals - hunger, fear, love & loyalty - lurk only unconscious algorithms rather than subjective experiences? This theory was upheld by René Descartes, the father of our modern philosophy: in the 17th century RD maintained that only humans feel & crave, whereas all other animals are {'only'} like 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 wax widely accepted in Descartes' day! And 17th-century doctors & scholars dissected live dogs & observed the working of their internal organs, without either anaesthetics or scruples! Like most criminals, professional soldiers, fanatic sports- and policemen or any of the other sellers of dangerous shit, tons of plastic and deadly garbage all over the world with their global trade concentrations and countless innocent victims...
Asih, man, 79 jaar
Log in om een reactie te plaatsen.
vorige
volgende