With the development of the computer it became painfully obvious that human beings were
fundamentally different from any designed piece of technology.
Evidence-based Citation needed. ( From a neurologist or computer scientist. Nothing about how our own massively parallel architecture differs from the Von Neumann architecture.)
The more we understand of the workings of the brain, the more we can mimic it on a computer. (“Ha, but these are simple tasks! Not difficult tasks like consciousness.” How convenient of you to have chosen a metric you can’t even define to judge progress towards full understanding of the human brain)
there is no rational model as to how to make that machine ‘conscious’.
And there was no such model before the development of computers either.
Your unstated assumption seems to be that it is rational to expect a quick development of a “model of consciousness” (whatever that is) after the invention of the computer. If that were so, you might have a point, but, again : evidence needed.
Secondly, our faculty of reason itself does not even work in the same way a computer works.
Evidence-based Citation needed.
Our brain runs on physics. Although there may be various as-of-yet unknown algorithms running in our brain, there is no reason to assume anything non-computational is going on.
Our brain is physical, no doubt, but as you can imagine I am making a claim that mind (consciousness, spirit, whatever you want to call it) is not the same as brain. There is a connection between the two, but my argument using rational judgment is that consciousness does not seem to be physical because there is no way to understand it rationally. Your point against me is what I use against you. You say I am mistaken because I cannot even define what is consciousness, I say that is precisely the point! The only way you can reply is to hold out for the view that consciousness may not even exist, so it may not be a problem in the first place. And that is a whole other issue, for if consciousness is only an illusion that breaks down the entire human experience of reality.
Furthermore, there are other reasons why the idea of a purely physical human being without any mysterious non-physical reality is extremely problematic:
It would mean no free will. To deny free will is to deny rationality to begin with. How can a conclusion made by reason in turn negate reason?
It would deny any real morality. Fundamdentally a human being would be the same as a piece of wood, except more complex.
It is the western insistence that reason be a univeral tool (and therefore reality be universally physical) that has led them to completely deny dualism. But if you recognize that reason itself is pointing towards its own limits, dualism is not that bad of a conclusion.
Evidence-based Citation needed. ( From a neurologist or computer scientist. Nothing about how our own massively parallel architecture differs from the Von Neumann architecture.)
The more we understand of the workings of the brain, the more we can mimic it on a computer. (“Ha, but these are simple tasks! Not difficult tasks like consciousness.” How convenient of you to have chosen a metric you can’t even define to judge progress towards full understanding of the human brain)
And there was no such model before the development of computers either.
Your unstated assumption seems to be that it is rational to expect a quick development of a “model of consciousness” (whatever that is) after the invention of the computer. If that were so, you might have a point, but, again : evidence needed.
Evidence-based Citation needed.
Our brain runs on physics. Although there may be various as-of-yet unknown algorithms running in our brain, there is no reason to assume anything non-computational is going on.
Will you change your mind if/when whole brain emulation becomes feasible ?
Our brain is physical, no doubt, but as you can imagine I am making a claim that mind (consciousness, spirit, whatever you want to call it) is not the same as brain. There is a connection between the two, but my argument using rational judgment is that consciousness does not seem to be physical because there is no way to understand it rationally. Your point against me is what I use against you. You say I am mistaken because I cannot even define what is consciousness, I say that is precisely the point! The only way you can reply is to hold out for the view that consciousness may not even exist, so it may not be a problem in the first place. And that is a whole other issue, for if consciousness is only an illusion that breaks down the entire human experience of reality.
Furthermore, there are other reasons why the idea of a purely physical human being without any mysterious non-physical reality is extremely problematic:
It would mean no free will. To deny free will is to deny rationality to begin with. How can a conclusion made by reason in turn negate reason?
It would deny any real morality. Fundamdentally a human being would be the same as a piece of wood, except more complex.
It is the western insistence that reason be a univeral tool (and therefore reality be universally physical) that has led them to completely deny dualism. But if you recognize that reason itself is pointing towards its own limits, dualism is not that bad of a conclusion.