Maybe there are degrees of consciousness. I read something
by Daniel Dennett where he said he thought that a
refrigerator light (a light bulb that is turned on when you
open the refrigerator door and thus close a switch) had a
very primitive form of consciousness.
Can consciousness really be so easy to create?
I too think this is a head-scratcher, yet on balance I am
still a reductionist. Maybe this is not a reductio ad
absurdum, but a reductio ad weirdam—a demonstration of
how weird existence is. (Obligatory “reality is not weird”
link.)
If you have not yet read Greg Egan’s Permutation
City,
you should. It will really bake your noodle.
Maybe there are degrees of consciousness. I read something by Daniel Dennett where he said he thought that a refrigerator light (a light bulb that is turned on when you open the refrigerator door and thus close a switch) had a very primitive form of consciousness.
I too think this is a head-scratcher, yet on balance I am still a reductionist. Maybe this is not a reductio ad absurdum, but a reductio ad weirdam—a demonstration of how weird existence is. (Obligatory “reality is not weird” link.)
If you have not yet read Greg Egan’s Permutation City, you should. It will really bake your noodle.