PINKER

IF WE COULD EVER DUPLICATE THE INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE HUMAN MIND AS AN ENORMOUS COMPUTER PROGRAM, WOULD A COMPUTER RUNNING THE PROGRAM BE CONCIOUS?

WHAT IF WE TOOK THAT PROGRAM AND TRAINED A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE, SAY, THE POPULATION OF CHINA, TO HOLD IN MIND THE DATA AND ACT OUT THE STEPS? WOULD THERE BE ONE GIGANTIC CONSCIOUSNESS HOVERING OVER CHINA, SEPARATE FROM THE CONSCIOUSNESSES OF THE BILLION INDIVIDUALS? IF THEY WERE IMPLEMENTING THE BRAIN STATE FOR AGONIZING PAIN, WOULD THERE BE SOME ENTITY THAT REALLY WAS IN PAIN, EVEN IF EVERY CITIZEN WAS CHEERFUL AND LIGHT-HEARTED?

SUPPOSE THE VISUAL RECEIVING AREA AT THE BACK OF YOUR BRAIN WAS SURGICALLY SEVERED FROM THE REST AND REMAINED ALIVE IN YOUR SKULL, RECEIVING INPUT FROM THE EYES. BY EVERY BEHAVIORAL MEASURE YOU ARE BLIND. IS THERE A MUTE BUT FULLY AWARE VISUAL CONSCIOUSNESS SEALED OFF IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD? WHAT IF IT WAS REMOVED AND KEPT ALIVE IN A DISH?

MIGHT YOUR EXPERIENCE OF RED BE THE SAME AS MY EXPERIENCE OF GREEN? SURE, YOU MIGHT LABEL GRASS AS "GREEN" AND TOMATOES AS "RED," JUST AS I DO, BUT PERHAPS YOU ACTUALLY SEE THE GRASS AS HAVING THE COLOR THAT I WOULD DESCRIBE, IF I WERE IN YOUR SHOES, AS RED.

COULD THERE BE ZOMBIES? THAT IS, COULD THERE BE AN ANDROID RIGGED UP TO ACT AS INTELLIGENTLY AND EMOTIONALLY AS YOU AND ME, BUT IN WHICH THERE IS "NO ONE HOME" WHO IS ACTUALLY FEELING OR SEEING ANYTHING? HOW DO I KNOW YOU'RE NOT A ZOMBIE?

IF SOMEONE COULD DOWNLOAD THE STATE OF MY BRAIN AND DUPLICATE IT IN ANOTHER COLLECTION OF MOLECULES, WOULD IT HAVE MY CONSCIOUSNESS? IF SOMONE DESTROYED THE ORIGINAL, BUT THE DUPLICATE CONTINUED TO LIVE MY LIFE AND THINK MY THOUGHTS AND FEEL MY FEELINGS, WOULD I HAVE BEEN MURDERED? WAS CAPTAIN KIRK SNUFFED OUT AND REPLACED BY A TWIN EVERY TIME HE STEPPED INTO THE TRANSPORTER ROOM?

SURGEONS REPLACE ONE OF YOUR NEURONS WITH A MICROCHIP THAT DUPLICATES ITS INPUT-OUTPUT FUNCTIONS. YOU FEEL AND BEHAVE EXACTLY AS BEFORE. THEN THEY REPLACE A SECOND ONE, AND A THIRD ONE, AND SO ON, UNTIL MORE AND MORE OF YOUR BRAIN BECOMES SILICON. SINCE EACH MICROCHIP DOES EXACTLY WHAT THE NEURON DID, YOUR BEHAVIOR AND MEMORE NEVER CHANGE. DO YOU EVEN NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? DOES IF FEEL LIKE DYING? IS SOME OTHER CONSCIOUS ENTITY MOVING IN WITH YOU?