I think what you are saying is that if we possessed detailed understanding of a mind, we might discover a reductive explanation of qualia.
I think I’m saying more than this. We might find that it is impossible for beings like ourselves to not have qualia. By analogy, consider the Goldbach conjecture. It’s possibly try but not provable with a finite proof. But it’s also possibly false, and possibly provably so with a finite proof. It’s conceivable that the Goldbach conjecture is true, and conceivable that it is false, but only one of the two cases is logically possible.
On the other hand, in the Mary thought experiment Mary has an incredibly large brain. Since she has by definition (yes indeed) a perfect “model” of a brain her model is in fact the brain itself, therefore her mind runs the same computations and (with extreme likelihood) produces the same qualia.
I’m afraid I don’t see this. If qualia can be understood in terms of a model, then we can show that it reduces. But having a brain is not the same thing as having a model of a brain. Children have brains and can be certain of their qualia, but they have no model of their cognition.
The qualia that Chalmers is talking about is what distinguishes first-person experience from third-person experience. Even knowing everything material about how you think and behave, I still don’t know what your first-person experience is like in terms of my own first-person experience. In fact, knowing another person’s first-person experience in terms of my own might not be possible because of indeterminacy of translation. Even being in possession of a perfect model of your brain doesn’t obviously tell me exactly what your first-person experience is like. This is the puzzle that drives the zombie/anti-reductionist stance.
What I am saying beyond this is two-fold. First, even if the perfect model is of my own brain, there’s still a gap between my first-person experience and my “third-person” understanding of my own brain. In other words, finding a gap isn’t evidence for non-reductionism.
Second, the gap doesn’t invalidate the reductive inference if the reductive inference wouldn’t allow you to bridge the gap in any case.
How does this weigh on the zombie argument?
Well, frankly, we’re a lot more confident in physicalism based on the evidence than we are in the lack of flaws in the zombie argument.
It’s certainly possible that we’re talking at cross purposes or that I don’t understand your claim. Are you making a distinction between first-person experience and third-person knowledge of brains? The typical philosopher’s response would be that a superintelligence has exactly the same problem as we do.
I think I’m saying more than this. We might find that it is impossible for beings like ourselves to not have qualia. By analogy, consider the Goldbach conjecture. It’s possibly try but not provable with a finite proof. But it’s also possibly false, and possibly provably so with a finite proof. It’s conceivable that the Goldbach conjecture is true, and conceivable that it is false, but only one of the two cases is logically possible.
I’m afraid I don’t see this. If qualia can be understood in terms of a model, then we can show that it reduces. But having a brain is not the same thing as having a model of a brain. Children have brains and can be certain of their qualia, but they have no model of their cognition.
The qualia that Chalmers is talking about is what distinguishes first-person experience from third-person experience. Even knowing everything material about how you think and behave, I still don’t know what your first-person experience is like in terms of my own first-person experience. In fact, knowing another person’s first-person experience in terms of my own might not be possible because of indeterminacy of translation. Even being in possession of a perfect model of your brain doesn’t obviously tell me exactly what your first-person experience is like. This is the puzzle that drives the zombie/anti-reductionist stance.
What I am saying beyond this is two-fold. First, even if the perfect model is of my own brain, there’s still a gap between my first-person experience and my “third-person” understanding of my own brain. In other words, finding a gap isn’t evidence for non-reductionism.
Second, the gap doesn’t invalidate the reductive inference if the reductive inference wouldn’t allow you to bridge the gap in any case.
How does this weigh on the zombie argument?
Well, frankly, we’re a lot more confident in physicalism based on the evidence than we are in the lack of flaws in the zombie argument.
It’s certainly possible that we’re talking at cross purposes or that I don’t understand your claim. Are you making a distinction between first-person experience and third-person knowledge of brains? The typical philosopher’s response would be that a superintelligence has exactly the same problem as we do.