IUBio

Consciousness

r norman rsn_ at _comcast.net
Tue Nov 11 14:27:02 EST 2003


On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 19:14:13 GMT, "Dio" <dadaismo at tin.it> wrote:

>Is consciousness produced only by brain or it could be produced by a machine
>too?
>

An excellent question that has been around for a very long time.

Given that we really don't know what consciousness is or what produces
it, the question of whether a purely computational device could be
conscious is an open question.  I presume you do not mean simply a
mechanical gadget -- computation and information processing does seem
to be intimitately involved.

One general philosophical argument is that all biological processes
are simply the working out of the laws of physics and chemistry.  That
is, the brain IS a kind of machine already, so yes, consciousness can
be produced by a machine.  And that means that is could also be
produced by a non-biological machine.








More information about the Neur-sci mailing list

Send comments to us at biosci-help [At] net.bio.net