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Article 3689 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: chalmers@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (David Chalmers)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Strong AI and panpsychism
Message-ID: <1992Feb12.235856.5073@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Date: 12 Feb 92 23:58:56 GMT
References: <1992Feb12.182033.4183@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Feb12.224832.305@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> <1992Feb12.231850.18733@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Organization: Indiana University
Lines: 20

In article <1992Feb12.231850.18733@mp.cs.niu.edu> rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:

>  You you elaborate further.  Or, could you at least define the term
>"thermostat" in the way you are using it.  Everything I can think of that
>is called a "thermostat" is much simpler than a simple clock, and is
>understood at least as well.

Sorry if I was unclear on this.  The distinction isn't between the
questions "do thermostats have qualia?" and "do simple clocks have
qualia?".  It's between the questions "do thermostats have qualia?"
and "do simple clocks have such-and-such causal organization?".

[Incidentally, by a simple clock I just mean a minimal system that
is in different states at different times; for these purposes, I imagine
a structureless clock-hand rotating slowly around a point.]

-- 
Dave Chalmers                            (dave@cogsci.indiana.edu)      
Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, Indiana University.
"It is not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable."


