Doesn’t this imply that an infinity of different subjective consciousnesses are being simulated right now, if only we knew how to assign inputs and outputs correctly?
I started a series of articles, which got some criticism on LW in the past, dealing with this issue (among others) and this kind of ontology. In short, if an ontology like this applies, it does not mean that all computations are equal: There would be issues of measure associated with the number (I’m simplifying here) of interpretations that can find any particular computation. I expect to be posting Part 4 of this series, which has been delayed for a long time and which will answer many objections, in a while, but the previous articles are as follows:
This relates to the notion of “joke interpretations” under which a rock can be said to be implementing a given algorithm. There’s some discussion of it in Good and Real.
Yes, it does. And if the universe is spatially infinite, then that implies an infinity of different subjective consciousnesses, too. Neither of these seems like a problem to me.
Not necessarily. See Chlamer’s reply to Hilary Putnam who asserted something similar, especially section 6. Basically, if we require that all of the “internal” structure of the computation be the same in the isomorphism and make a reasonable assumption about the nature consciousness, all of the matter in the Hubble volume wouldn’t be close to large enough to simulate a (human) consciousness.
Doesn’t this imply that an infinity of different subjective consciousnesses are being simulated right now, if only we knew how to assign inputs and outputs correctly?
I started a series of articles, which got some criticism on LW in the past, dealing with this issue (among others) and this kind of ontology. In short, if an ontology like this applies, it does not mean that all computations are equal: There would be issues of measure associated with the number (I’m simplifying here) of interpretations that can find any particular computation. I expect to be posting Part 4 of this series, which has been delayed for a long time and which will answer many objections, in a while, but the previous articles are as follows:
Minds, Substrate, Measure and Value, Part 1: Substrate Dependence. http://www.paul-almond.com/Substrate1.pdf.
Minds, Substrate, Measure and Value, Part 2: Extra Information About Substrate Dependence. http://www.paul-almond.com/Substrate2.pdf.
Minds, Substrate, Measure and Value, Part 3: The Problem of Arbitrariness of Interpretation. http://www.paul-almond.com/Substrate3.pdf.
This won’t resolve everything, but should show that the kind of ontology you are talking about is not a “random free for all”.
This relates to the notion of “joke interpretations” under which a rock can be said to be implementing a given algorithm. There’s some discussion of it in Good and Real.
Yes, it does. And if the universe is spatially infinite, then that implies an infinity of different subjective consciousnesses, too. Neither of these seems like a problem to me.
Not necessarily. See Chlamer’s reply to Hilary Putnam who asserted something similar, especially section 6. Basically, if we require that all of the “internal” structure of the computation be the same in the isomorphism and make a reasonable assumption about the nature consciousness, all of the matter in the Hubble volume wouldn’t be close to large enough to simulate a (human) consciousness.