in article lnd2rv0k34b2sp117g8sbjl5mtu5e6acci at 4ax.com, r norman at
rsn_ at _comcast.net wrote on 11/11/03 11:27 AM:
> 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.
>The last sentence does not necessarily follow - it is a logical possibility
that whatever it is that makes a machine "non-biological" also makes it
incapable of consciousness. I am not advocating that position, just
pointing out a flaw in the reasoning.
