Re: Peterson's Death Sentence

From: John Fields (jfields_at_austininstruments.com)
Date: 01/29/05 

Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 13:34:03 -0600

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 15:55:11 GMT, "Kevin Aylward"
<salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk> wrote:

>John Fields wrote:
>> On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 21:05:22 +0000, John Woodgate
>> <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote:
>>
>>> I read in sci.electronics.design that John Fields
>>> <jfields@austininstrum ents.com> wrote (in
>>> <ue4lv01fl22is149t831nus45049ksn66n@4ax.com>) about 'Peterson's
>>> Death Sentence', on Fri, 28 Jan 2005:
>>>
>>>> Something like that. The rainbow analogy may be a little strained
>>>> unless you consider the colors as an array of discrete wavelengths,
>>>
>>> That seems to me to be completely backwards. The *colour* doesn't
>>> look like discrete wavelengths; it looks like a continuum. Same with
>>> consciousness, unless you define it in such a way that it's limited
>>> to Homo sapiens.
>>
>> ---
>> Yes, that's the point I was trying to make. That "color", even though
>> it may _look_ like a countinuum, really isn't,
>
>Yes it is. Dah...colour is expressed by frequency or wavelength, both of
>which are continuous. 

---
Frayed knot.  Color is caused by an electron's dropping from one
_discrete_ energy level to another, thus generating a photon which
carries off that quantum of energy and vibrates at a particular
wavelength.
---
     
>
>>and consciousness, even
>> though it may also look like a continuum is really discrete in that
>> before it can be recognized as consciousness, it must cross some
>> threshold.
>
>This is simply speculation. I disagree completely. There is no evidence 
>whatsoever that consciousness has a threshold. There are good arguments 
>against such a view.
---
Yet, in an earlier post, you stated: 
"Complete nonsense. We only need you be concerned about a "life" after
it has first become *conscious*. Before something becomes conscious it
is no more then a carrot. What *makes* a life, that needs
consideration for its *own* sake, is a brain. Period."
Which seems to indicate that you _do_ consider there to be a period
before which consciousness occurs and a period after.  Such being the
case, then there must necessarily be a threshold between the two
states, that threshold being when consciousness occurs.
I don't believe you can support both viewpoints simultaneously, so
when do you suppose you'll waffle back to your earlier so-firmly-held
belief?
-- 
John Fields

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Petersons Death Sentence
    ... Dah...colour is expressed by frequency or wavelength, ... >> though it may also look like a continuum is really discrete in that ... >> before it can be recognized as consciousness, ... >whatsoever that consciousness has a threshold. ...
    (comp.os.linux.networking)
  • Re: simple, plain-English introduction?
    ... I think alife has little to do with strong AI. ... What's the threshold for consciousness? ... cognitive mechanisms or learning facilities into a single ...
    (comp.ai.alife)
  • Re: simple, plain-English introduction?
    ... >> artificial life, consciousness, and the possible threshold where ... a level similar to that seen in 'real' life - don't the ... >What's the threshold for consciousness? ...
    (comp.ai.alife)
  • Re: Petersons Death Sentence
    ... >) being indiscriminately across the spectrum. ... >) consciousness arises after a discrete period of development, ... I've already brought up the threshold argument by ... >if some of his statements contradict each other or not. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Petersons Death Sentence
    ... >) being indiscriminately across the spectrum. ... >) consciousness arises after a discrete period of development, ... I've already brought up the threshold argument by ... >if some of his statements contradict each other or not. ...
    (comp.os.linux.networking)