From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!csd.unb.ca!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!aunro!ukma!darwin.sura.net!europa.asd.contel.com!uunet!psinntp!scylla!daryl Wed Feb 26 12:53:17 EST 1992
Article 3897 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!csd.unb.ca!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!aunro!ukma!darwin.sura.net!europa.asd.contel.com!uunet!psinntp!scylla!daryl
>From: daryl@oracorp.com
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Strong AI and panpsychism
Message-ID: <1992Feb20.170044.24181@oracorp.com>
Date: 20 Feb 92 17:00:44 GMT
Organization: ORA Corporation
Lines: 34

David Chalmers writes (in response to Daryl McCullough):

>>What I thought you were saying was that in Putnam's argument that any
>>physical object implements any functional system, the correspondence
>>between physical states and mental states was very unnatural and ad
>>hoc. My question was why does it matter; if there exists *any* mapping
>>(however strange) between physical states and mental states, then why
>>can't the physical object be said to *possess* those mental states?

>Well, there's a mapping from the 600 mental states I've had in the
>last 10 minutes to the 600 books in my bookshelf, so obviously a
>mapping alone isn't enough.

Obviously. I thought it was clear that I was talking about mappings
that preserve the transition relation between states.

> What we need is a *theory* according to which mental states arise from
> certain kinds of physical states.  And the physical states that Putnam
> appeals to don't fit the theory (of course, one can always argue that
> the theory is wrong).

I'm not trying to get a detailed theory out of you, I'm only trying to
pin you down on one small point: If system A implements system B, then
does that mean that every mental property possessed by B is also
possessed by A?

What I mean by implementation is pretty simple: A implements B if
there are functions mapping states of A to states of B and inputs and
outputs of A to inputs and outputs of B such that the mappings
preserve the transition relations.

Daryl McCullough
ORA Corp.
Ithaca, NY


