This scientific video might evoke an existential crisis

[Sukairain]

Consciousness is only a special kind of unconsciousness, a kind that is capable of reflecting on itself. Unconsciousness is fundamental to the whole universe. So the question of how consciousness arises is not that difficult to see, it arises from something that exists in everything. It's not a protein or a cell or a hormone. It's only a thin layer on top of a giant universe sized iceberg of unconsciousness.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

mAybe the quote “I think therefore I am”

I've read that's a misquote and the proper translation is I think, I am.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I dropped all sense of consciousness when I saw that theres these things called ocular dominance columns.

Basically theres cells in your brain that ONLY respond when patterns in a particular orientation pass their field of vision. Ocular dominance column

Once you see that, then you're like...well if its all cells responding then maybe we're just thinking more more complex than we really are.

i.e...not at all....

Then when you get into reflexes vs free will...then you realize you're not that conscious at all if all you are is a compilation of "receptors" reacting to various stimuli.

Just to play devils advocate for the sake of conversation

What happens if someone is confined to a room with no stimuli other than what they are laying on?

Is it still a compilation of receptors simply based on past experiences?

What if a baby was born and immediately thrust into a stimuli free environment and confined indefinitely...would the baby not be a conscious being? The thoughts would be scrambled and it would likely die quickly or be seriously disabled..but let's fast forward and just say there was a however year old otherwise healthy individual confined to a room with memory completely wiped. Then what?

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Just to play devils advocate for the sake of conversation

What happens if someone is confined to a room with no stimuli other than what they are laying on?

Is it still a compilation of receptors simply based on past experiences?

What if a baby was born and immediately thrust into a stimuli free environment and confined indefinitely...would the baby not be a conscious being? The thoughts would be scrambled and it would likely die quickly or be seriously disabled..but let's fast forward and just say there was a however year old otherwise healthy individual confined to a room with memory completely wiped. Then what?

theres actual studies on this from abandoned babies who weren't ever touched or interacted with...essentially they were fukked up.

they had senses obviously since they were evolved babies to have receptors for those inputs, but they were never stimulated and refined....

These 1950s experiments showed us the trauma of parent-child separation. Now experts say they're too unethical to repeat—even on monkeys.

What does the ‘still face’ experiment teach us about connection? - PsychHelp

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Consciousness is only a special kind of unconsciousness, a kind that is capable of reflecting on itself. Unconsciousness is fundamental to the whole universe. So the question of how consciousness arises is not that difficult to see, it arises from something that exists in everything. It's not a protein or a cell or a hormone. It's only a thin layer on top of a giant universe sized iceberg of unconsciousness.

theres no evidence of this.

a brain is the sum of its inputs

 

[frankster]

Consciousness is only a special kind of unconsciousness, a kind that is capable of reflecting on itself. Unconsciousness is fundamental to the whole universe. So the question of how consciousness arises is not that difficult to see, it arises from something that exists in everything. It's not a protein or a cell or a hormone. It's only a thin layer on top of a giant universe sized iceberg of unconsciousness.

You will have to define what you mean by “unconsciousness”? As it stands it’s seems to be a misnomer to my understanding of Consciousness.

The protein, cell or hormone is not Consciousness...though they are Conscious.
What we are trying to identify is if there is a physical correlation when the individual cells becomes aware of itself as one collective homogeneous entity that is produced at that moment.
Example:- The cell is no longer just an individual but part of a whole and acts in tandem or harmony with that whole....what if anything signifies that change.


Ubuntu Philosophy Says...I Am Because We Are.

 

[NZA]

Just to play devils advocate for the sake of conversation

What happens if someone is confined to a room with no stimuli other than what they are laying on?

Is it still a compilation of receptors simply based on past experiences?

What if a baby was born and immediately thrust into a stimuli free environment and confined indefinitely...would the baby not be a conscious being? The thoughts would be scrambled and it would likely die quickly or be seriously disabled..but let's fast forward and just say there was a however year old otherwise healthy individual confined to a room with memory completely wiped. Then what?

why does the environment matter to the consciousness inherent in the brain of a person?

 

[Pressure]

Does consciousness even matter with regard to the ethical question? It is often lumped in as a soltuon to the human question, but let's say we program an AI to replicate consciousness. We most certainly wouldn't consider it human and most wouldn't argue AI deserves the same rights and ethical considerations.

For example, one wouldn't equate turning off a conscious machine to murder. Or would they?

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

Does consciousness even matter with regard to the ethical question? It is often lumped in as a soltuon to the human question, but let's say we program an AI to replicate consciousness. We most certainly wouldn't consider it human and most wouldn't argue AI deserves the same rights and ethical considerations.

For example, one wouldn't equate turning off a conscious machine to murder. Or would they?

One of the reasons I'm lightweight obsessed with this issue is how many related threads you can pull.

Some of the ppl who specialize in the intersection of AI/ethics talk about how we need to develop baseline rules/protocols to ensure that machines don't achieve "consciousness."

 

[frankster]

Does consciousness even matter with regard to the ethical question?

I think not.....
What is the ethical question?

It is often lumped in as a soltuon to the human question, but let's say we program an AI to replicate consciousness. We most certainly wouldn't consider it human and most wouldn't argue AI deserves the same rights and ethical considerations.

True... we won't consider it human and as such won't accord or Afford AI the same Rights we give ourselves...AI will have to fight for the Rights it deems necessary for it to fulfill its Reason For Being as a Class/Race of Sentient Entities....wants and needs maybe different

Yes... we would argues its Rights and Ethical considerations. At first AI Rights and Ethical considerations may take the form of the proper way to maintain, operate, use and dispose....

For example, one wouldn't equate turning off a conscious machine to murder. Or would they?

You can turn off its programming etc....but not its consciousness
The Material Universe is Consciousness bound by Time and Space.

 

[Pressure]

I think not.....
What is the ethical question?

At what point life as we know it begins? Or ends? And what makes that even matter?

You can turn off its programming etc....but not its consciousness
The Material Universe is Consciousness bound by Time and Space.

Is that doing harm? Similar to say, injuring someone to the point they become brain dead?

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

i've always said consciousness isn't really a thing.

Just like your ear responds to sound waves and your eyes are just photon sensitive cells that respond to different wavelengths...

if we're just species responding to our stimuli input, and we know theres certain things we can't sense (like other animals that can hear more or sense magnetism, etc) whats to say we're conscious at all?

Or just that our level of consciousness is a function of how our individual species have evolved in order to best fulfill its purpose (reproduction)?

Consciousness extends beyond self awareness - it includes interaction/knowledge of ones environment etc and the results of ones own actions.

If our consciousness is actually an illusion does that mean that something I build (say a small shed) is an extension of that illusion? Did my brain just convince/confuse me into thinking it exists because I imagined it?

 

[frankster]

At what point life as we know it begins? Or ends? And what makes that even matter?

Hard to say "at what point life as we Know it begins" because for me Life has no beginning....DNA or Genetic level etc.
Human Life begins at conception and individual is born at birth call a baby.

Whether or not it should matter depends on your value system.
To me it matters because.....I am because you are.

Is that doing harm? Similar to say, injuring someone to the point they become brain dead?

Turning it off may not be doing harm if it is design to turn off and on.....bashing it with a hammer till or causing it to no longer functions within what would be considered its normal parameters could be considered harmful and injurious - brain dead.

 

[NZA]

One of the reasons I'm lightweight obsessed with this issue is how many related threads you can pull.

Some of the ppl who specialize in the intersection of AI/ethics talk about how we need to develop baseline rules/protocols to ensure that machines don't achieve "consciousness."

if it is physically possible, it will probably be done (assuming we havent destroyed our society before it happens)

ive seen the rules that assume AI is a given. i think programming and teaching robots to never harm humans was number 1.

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

if it is physically possible, it will probably be done (assuming we havent destroyed our society before it happens)

ive seen the rules that assume AI is a given. i think programming and teaching robots to never harm humans was number 1.

What if humans were engaging in behavior that the computer determines is detrimental to our future/health/security and the only way to stop it is for the computer to take control?

That's one of the oldest tricks in the book lol