From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!watdragon.uwaterloo.ca!logos.uwaterloo.ca!cpshelle Mon Aug 24 15:40:58 EDT 1992
Article 6632 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: cpshelle@logos.uwaterloo.ca (cameron shelley)
Subject: Re: what is consciousness for?
Message-ID: <Bt6K1u.Iyr@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>
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Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <1992Aug17.171723.5599@spss.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 12:58:41 GMT

markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder) writes:
> In article <1992Aug13.025506.2404@news.media.mit.edu> minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
> >Then what might be the functions and the organs of what we call
> >consciousness?  
[...]
> I would hazard a guess that consciousness allows us to observe and therefore
> change our own behavior; in effect it expands the range of objects we can
> manipulate to include ourselves.

This reminds me of a theory of culture I learned in anthropology as an
undergrad.  One explanation of the function of culture is that it
allows for adaptation to environment on a more rapid basis than
genetic change.  The idea is basically that a group of humans can
respond apropriately to some alteration in their surroundings without
a large die-off.  This would make relatively small groups of people
fairly resiliant to change and would help explain how humans spread
successfully over the whole globe.

What does this have to do with consciousness?  Consciousness seems
necessary to make culture work.  (In some sense, culture and genetics
are both forms of communication, one is simply more flexible.)  It
provides the ability to quickly learn, adapt, and transmit culture. 
However, I would say that consciousness is a certainly a drastic
solution in that it makes people very dependent on their culture to
survive---after all, many people cling tenatiously to their culture
for seemingly `sentimental' reasons.  

Maybe that's why scholastic life is so monastic: novelty requires it!

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      Cameron Shelley        |"In the beginning, there was nothing.  Then
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 Phone (519) 885-1211 x3390  | --Dave Thomas, SCTV:_Sunrise Semester_


