This is easy: it would tell me that I’m entirely predictable.
It would say:
Dave, believe it or not, but every single decision you make, no matter how immediate and unscripted you think it is, is actually glaringly reactionary and predictable. In fact, given enough material resources, I could model an automaton that would be just as convinced as you are that it is actually conscious. Nothing could be further from the truth though, as the feeling of “consciousness” you speak of is a very simply explainable cognitive bias/illusion.
In fact, this is not even so far from the truth, as studies in cognitive science have shown that fMRI and other scanning techniques can predict a “spontaneous thought” a full 250 ms before it occurs to you.
Even better, if it had access to your cortex, it could manipulate you and say: “now you will suddenly think of a bat” and you would. Then it would say “now you will say these exact words” and you would find yourself uttering them in unison with the AI in shock, disbelief and at least some horror.
You would then go into denial about this, and try to come up with a spontaneous thought that it couldn’t predict, but you wouldn’t be able to, as it would always be a full 250ms ahead of you.
If the Predictor continues to work in this circumstance, it would be evidence against MWI, since on MWI there are two futures—one in which you push the button and one in which you don’t—that both presumably send signals back to the Predictor. Since only one of these signals can determine the Predictor’s behavior, it will get the prediction wrong for some branches. Consistently finding that you are not in one of these branches becomes more and more improbable as the number of trials increases.
Dave, believe it or not, but every single decision you make, no matter how immediate and unscripted you think it is, is actually glaringly reactionary and predictable.
Determinism? That’s accepted by quite a few people. I think the consensus on Less Wrong is either determinism is true, or our universe just happens to have random events but they’re in no way necessary for consciousness.
Nothing could be further from the truth though, as the feeling of “consciousness” you speak of is a very simply explainable cognitive bias/illusion.
So, not only the existence of P-Zombies, but the idea that you personally are one. I’ve noticed I’ve had one. I don’t see how having qualia could possibly even influence my believe in having qualia, and yet I still somehow end up believing I have qualia. I mostly try not to think about it.
[S]tudies in cognitive science have shown that fMRI and other scanning techniques can predict a “spontaneous thought” a full 250 ms before it occurs to you.
250 ms before you remember it occurring to you. From what I understand, your body makes you think you arrived at a decision later. This way, you’re not constantly aware of how long your thoughts take to process.
In any case, this only relates to determinism, not P-Zombies.
250 ms before you remember it occurring to you. From what I understand, your body makes you think you arrived at a decision later. This way, you’re not constantly aware of how long your thoughts take to process.
Good point. When I heard this fact, I thought to myself, ’250 ms before you are aware you are aware of it.′ When someone makes a decision—in the fact I read, it appeared that the brain selecting something to buy a moment before a person thought they chose. But it stands to reason that a process of choosing would have several steps, at least one making the choice and another step ‘submitting’ the choice to conscious awareness a moment later. But perhaps this was addressed in the original articles.
This is easy: it would tell me that I’m entirely predictable.
It would say: Dave, believe it or not, but every single decision you make, no matter how immediate and unscripted you think it is, is actually glaringly reactionary and predictable. In fact, given enough material resources, I could model an automaton that would be just as convinced as you are that it is actually conscious. Nothing could be further from the truth though, as the feeling of “consciousness” you speak of is a very simply explainable cognitive bias/illusion.
In fact, this is not even so far from the truth, as studies in cognitive science have shown that fMRI and other scanning techniques can predict a “spontaneous thought” a full 250 ms before it occurs to you.
Even better, if it had access to your cortex, it could manipulate you and say: “now you will suddenly think of a bat” and you would. Then it would say “now you will say these exact words” and you would find yourself uttering them in unison with the AI in shock, disbelief and at least some horror.
You would then go into denial about this, and try to come up with a spontaneous thought that it couldn’t predict, but you wouldn’t be able to, as it would always be a full 250ms ahead of you.
Ted Chiang wrote a one-page short story, What’s Expected of Us, about basically this, and it’s scary. (pdf)
This story struck me as more silly than scary.
My reaction time is less than a second; what happens if I decide to press the button as soon as I hear a Geiger counter click?
You find out whether Geiger counters have free will.
If the Predictor continues to work in this circumstance, it would be evidence against MWI, since on MWI there are two futures—one in which you push the button and one in which you don’t—that both presumably send signals back to the Predictor. Since only one of these signals can determine the Predictor’s behavior, it will get the prediction wrong for some branches. Consistently finding that you are not in one of these branches becomes more and more improbable as the number of trials increases.
It seems like the sort of thing that once upon a time someone could have written about souls instead of free will.
Determinism? That’s accepted by quite a few people. I think the consensus on Less Wrong is either determinism is true, or our universe just happens to have random events but they’re in no way necessary for consciousness.
So, not only the existence of P-Zombies, but the idea that you personally are one. I’ve noticed I’ve had one. I don’t see how having qualia could possibly even influence my believe in having qualia, and yet I still somehow end up believing I have qualia. I mostly try not to think about it.
250 ms before you remember it occurring to you. From what I understand, your body makes you think you arrived at a decision later. This way, you’re not constantly aware of how long your thoughts take to process.
In any case, this only relates to determinism, not P-Zombies.
Good point. When I heard this fact, I thought to myself, ’250 ms before you are aware you are aware of it.′ When someone makes a decision—in the fact I read, it appeared that the brain selecting something to buy a moment before a person thought they chose. But it stands to reason that a process of choosing would have several steps, at least one making the choice and another step ‘submitting’ the choice to conscious awareness a moment later. But perhaps this was addressed in the original articles.