Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
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From: jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton)
Subject: Re: Strong AI and consciousness
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Date: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 17:46:17 GMT
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In article <3b0n0h$ite@news1.shell> hfinney@shell.portal.com (Hal) writes:
>The problem is this:
>
>A) Whether a machine is running a certain program is a subjective
>   judgement.  There is no right or wrong in the matter.  It depends
>   on how you look at it, how you interpret what is happening.
>
>B) A machine running the proper program becomes conscious.  (This is
>   the strong AI principle.)
>
>C) Whether something is conscious or not is not a subjective matter.
>   We all know from personal experience that there is no room for
>   doubt about our own consciousness.  This is a question where there
>   is a right answer and a wrong answer.  Bill Clinton is conscious,
>   and anyone who denies it is wrong.
>
>Now, I believe, to a considerable degree, all three of these statements.
>Yet they seem to contradict each other.  This poses a dilemma for me.
>Do other people feel this way?

I agree with C and don't know about A and B.

Agreeing with C puts me at odds with many in this newsgroup,
unfortunately.

-- jd
