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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: Thought Question
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References: <1995Jan12.184559.2530@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> <1995Jan20.153230.27315@gdunix.gd.chalmers.se> <D2xLr5.Axr@spss.com> <D2z7vy.EAz@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca>
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 23:24:31 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.alife:2068 comp.ai.philosophy:25083 comp.ai:26905

In article <D2z7vy.EAz@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca>,
Andrzej Pindor <pindor@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca> wrote:
>In article <D2xLr5.Axr@spss.com>, Mark Rosenfelder <markrose@spss.com> wrote:
>>A reflex movement of the limb would often be a very stupid strategy.  
>>Consciousness allows more intelligence to be brought to bear on the problem
>>of what to do about the pain.
>
>From my experience, the consciousness is useful in very novel situations,
>which we have not encountered before and we have no inborn (like the reflex
>movement) or learned ways of dealing with. Human body is capable of very
>complex movements, performed in nearly perfect correlation with unstructured
>moves in the environment (look at good athletes), without any participation
>of consciousnes (in fact an attempt to employ consciousness in such situations
>is usually disastrous), but only after the body has been consciously taught
>to perform those movements, so that one no longer has to think about them.

I agree.  This is on the right track, IMHO, to understanding what purpose
consciousness serves.
