But … if you’re assuming that qualia are “not reducible to purely physical descriptions”, and you need qualia to be conscious, then obviously brain-simulations wont be conscious. But those assumptions seem to be the bulk of the position he’s defending, aren’t they?
But those assumptions seem to be the bulk of the position he’s defending, aren’t they?
Right, the argument comes down, for most of us, to the first premise: do we or do we not have mental states irreducible to purely physical conditions. Aaron didn’t present an argument for that, he just presented Searle’s argument against AI from that. But you’re right to ask for a defense of that premise, since it’s the crucial one and it’s (at the moment) undefended here.
Presenting an obvious result of a nonobvious premise as if it was a nonobvious conclusion seems suspicious, as if he’s trying to trick listeners into accepting his conclusion even when their priors differ.
Presenting a trivial conclusion from nontrivial premises as a nontrivial conclusion seems suspicious
Not only suspicious, but impossible: if the premises are non-trivial, the conclusion is non-trivial.
In every argument, the conclusion follows straight away from the premises. If you accept the premises, and the argument is valid, then you must accept the conclusion. The conclusion does not need any further support.
But … if you’re assuming that qualia are “not reducible to purely physical descriptions”, and you need qualia to be conscious, then obviously brain-simulations wont be conscious. But those assumptions seem to be the bulk of the position he’s defending, aren’t they?
Right, the argument comes down, for most of us, to the first premise: do we or do we not have mental states irreducible to purely physical conditions. Aaron didn’t present an argument for that, he just presented Searle’s argument against AI from that. But you’re right to ask for a defense of that premise, since it’s the crucial one and it’s (at the moment) undefended here.
Presenting an obvious result of a nonobvious premise as if it was a nonobvious conclusion seems suspicious, as if he’s trying to trick listeners into accepting his conclusion even when their priors differ.
[Edited for terminology.]
Not only suspicious, but impossible: if the premises are non-trivial, the conclusion is non-trivial.
In every argument, the conclusion follows straight away from the premises. If you accept the premises, and the argument is valid, then you must accept the conclusion. The conclusion does not need any further support.
Y’know, you’re right. Trivial is not the right word at all.