the Kolmogorov complexity of a definition of an equivalence relation which tells us that an AND gate implemented in a MOSFET is equivalent to an AND gate implemented in a neuron is equivalent to an AND gate implemented in desert rocks
Isn’t that only a problem for those who answer “functions” to question 5? Desert-rocks-AND-gate and MOSFET-AND-gate are functionally-equivalent by definition, but if you’re not excluding side-effects it’s obvious that they’re not computationally equivalent.
Edit: zaph answered algorithms, so your counter-argument doesn’t really target him well.
They’re computationally equivalent by hypothesis. The thesis of substrate independence is that as far as consciousness is concerned the side effects don’t matter and that capturing the essential sameness of the “AND” computation is all that does. If you’re having trouble understanding this, I can’t blame you in the slightest, because it’s that bizarre.
(Didn’t realize this site doesn’t email reply notifications, thus the delayed response.)
What I’m saying is that someone who answers “algorithms” is clearly not taking that view of substrate-independence, but they could hypothesize that only some side-effects matter. A MOSFET-brain-simulation and a desert-rocks-brain-simulation could share computational properties beyond input-output, even though the side-effects are clearly not identical.
(Not saying that I endorse that hypothesis, just that it’s not the same as the “side effects don’t matter” version.)
Isn’t that only a problem for those who answer “functions” to question 5? Desert-rocks-AND-gate and MOSFET-AND-gate are functionally-equivalent by definition, but if you’re not excluding side-effects it’s obvious that they’re not computationally equivalent.
Edit: zaph answered algorithms, so your counter-argument doesn’t really target him well.
They’re computationally equivalent by hypothesis. The thesis of substrate independence is that as far as consciousness is concerned the side effects don’t matter and that capturing the essential sameness of the “AND” computation is all that does. If you’re having trouble understanding this, I can’t blame you in the slightest, because it’s that bizarre.
(Didn’t realize this site doesn’t email reply notifications, thus the delayed response.)
What I’m saying is that someone who answers “algorithms” is clearly not taking that view of substrate-independence, but they could hypothesize that only some side-effects matter. A MOSFET-brain-simulation and a desert-rocks-brain-simulation could share computational properties beyond input-output, even though the side-effects are clearly not identical.
(Not saying that I endorse that hypothesis, just that it’s not the same as the “side effects don’t matter” version.)