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?

STANDARD DEVIATION
IS THE POSITIVE SQUARE
ROOT OF THE MEAN OF
THE SQUARE OF THE
INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES OF THE
TERMS FROM THEIR MEAN

ISRAEL



ROMANIA

BROODING SQUID

OUR UNIVERSE IF VERY COMPLEX
WITH MYSTERIOUS NATURAL LAWS
ACTING ON A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS
MULTIDIMENSIONAL STORYBOARD OF INPUT

JOHN CONWAY (PREVIOUS POST) CREATED A MODEL
OF FIXED DIMENSION
(TWO SPACIAL DIMENSIONS ON A GRID)
AND LIMITED NATURAL LAW
(FOUR SIMPLE RULES)
THAT PLAINLY DETERMINE WETHER A CELL IS ON(LIVE) OR OFF(DEAD)
BASED ON THE EIGHT CELLS SURROUNDING IT

1. ANY LIVE CELL WITH FEWER THAN 2 LIVE NEIGHBORS DIES
2. ANY LIVE CELL WITH GREATER THAN 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS DIES
3. ANY LIVE CELL WITH 2 OR 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS LIVES
4. ANY DEAD CELL WITH EXACTLY 3 LIVE NEIGHBORS BECOMES A LIVE CELL

THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF BASED ON AN INITIAL DESIGNED STATE

THE GAME WAS ORIGINALLY PLAYED OUT ON GRAPH PAPER
BUT WAS SOON ADAPTED BY COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS IN THE 1970S

BELOW IS A .GIF OF SOME 'SPACESHIPS' THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED
REMEMBER THESE ARE SIMPLY INITIAL CONFORMATIONS
SET TO LIFE WITH FOUR SIMPLE RULES

THIS IS JOHN CONWAY LISTENING TO THE FLOATING SPHERE COIL

MORE JOHN CONWAY NEXT TIME VERY EXCITING
1997