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Article 7367 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: nijmanm@prl.philips.nl (M.J. Nijman)
Subject: Re: We've Been Tricked- consciousness
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References: <iordonez.719617253@academ01> <BwGKG0.M6@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> <nijmanm.719672415@hpas7> <BwHA6K.D33@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1992 12:52:15 GMT
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lcarr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (lincoln carr) writes:

>Hmmm . . . it would seem that a being that perceived anything would be
>aware of the fact of its own perception.

When you perceive an apple, and you are aware of that fact, there would be
something in your mind like

'I SEE AN APPLE.'

When you perceive an apple, and you are not able to reflect on that, all
that would be in you mind would be

'AN APPLE'

There would be no way for the perceiver to know about it's own existance.
He would not know that it was he perceiving.

>Also, if the worlds were
>noninteracting, how could a being exist in one and perceive in the
>other?  Isn't perception itself an interaction?

It doesn't have to be. While in W1 you could oberve W2 without interacting
with it. Just like you can observe the set of prime numbers without
effecting the set.

>Perhaps I didn't put
>enough qualifications on my definition of self-awareness to make it
>weak enough.  All I am saying is that a conscious being is aware of
>its perception,

Thats just what I'm arguing against. You can be conciously aware without
being able to know that.

>not that it is itself a single being, which is an
>impossible to be sure of, nor that it is doing anything other than
>perceiving.  Even if an evil spirit were filling one's mind with
>spurious images and false conclusions, one would still be aware that
>SOMETHING was being filled with spurious images and false conclusions.

We humans would, I agree with that. But not as a result of out conciousness
but as a result of our ability to self-reflect.

Marcel Nijman

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