5 ms·
How do you wire up the “conscious-o-meter”? What would a function for mapping consciousness to a quantity look like? How about [thoughts, emotions, sensation
by hirundo 5y ago
How do you wire up the “conscious-o-meter”? What would a function for mapping consciousness to a quantity look like? How about
[thoughts, emotions, sensations]
.sum { |p| p.frequency * p.complexity }
Collecting the data is left as an exercise for the student.
- tayo42 5y agoIntegrated information theory has one attempt at actually measuring how conscious a system is. It calls it phi.
- erikhoel 5y agoI worked on that in graduate school :)
- tayo42 5y agothats pretty cool, id ask you some questions about it if you didn't mind but im not ready for the moment lol
- ta988 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_information_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_information_theory Never heard of that before, thanks for the hint.
- tayo42 5y agono problem, the paper is actually not to bad either by the way.
- Razengan 5y agoYou have to define “thoughts, emotions, sensations” and “complexity” first. Pain, for example, counts as all 3, and some would say it’s simple while others might call it complex.
- orange8 5y agoPain is strictly a physical sensation. It may however be triggered by thoughts or emotions. The three are rarely ever experienced in isolation.
- amonavis 5y ago> Pain is strictly a physical sensation. Hard to tell that to those with lost limbs who suffer from ghost pain.
- orange8 5y agoDo not be fooled by the term "ghost". The pain is still real, and experts now agree it is coming from both the brain and spinal cord [1]. Just like optical illusions, the mind can play many tricks on us. Just because the pain feels like it is coming from a non-existent limb does not mean that that is where it is actually coming from. 1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/phantom-pain/symptoms-causes/syc-20376272 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/phantom-pain/...
- Razengan 5y ago> the pain feels like it is coming from a non-existent limb does not mean that that is where it is actually coming from. So uhh, what exactly is pain? Is it the feeling? Is it the physical damage? Is it a warning about damage? Is it the fear of damage (as in broken hearts etc.)?
- hliyan 5y agoI would suggest that consciousness is a faculty that is independent of thoughts, emotions or sensations. I can think of instances where I was aware of myself in the absence (or at least greatly reduced levels) of thought, emotion or sensations. Perhaps the question is whether qualia [1] are binary or not. This is a question that is probably impossible to answer because there is nothing else to measure it with. To paraphrase Julian Jaynes, what's more immediate that immediate awareness itself? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia