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> The only thing I can think of is that the character in the book is far simpler than a human. Words that say "john is happy" is similar to setting a variable o

> The only thing I can think of is that the character in the book is far simpler than a human. Words that say "john is happy" is similar to setting a variable on your computer equal to "happy". Happiness in a human is far more complex, involving tons of interactions between neurons. But this answer isn't satisfactory to me. Complexity isn't what makes something intelligent or conscious after all. This is the difference between a running program and a short description of the program. The short description isn't runnable, and isn't running. The reason the program itself is doing what we want it to do is not because it's more complex than the short description (though it is), but because it's actually executing the algorithm. We could imagine more and more detailed descriptions of the program, specifying more and more closely how it works, and eventually it's so detailed that you could run the program from that description. At that point, the description is still not a running program, unless and until you run it. Being conscious is a process -- a running algorithm -- not a static description.

Houshalter 14y ago
Well I'm not really claiming the book is sentient, just trying to come up with a criteria that excludes books and everything else except for people, without being completely arbitrary. Anyways you can think of time as a dimension. Each moment of time exists, connected to the ones that came before and come after it. You can represent the every state that a turing machine goes through all at once. Just like those rows of rocks. What does "running" even mean in a universe where all points in time can exist at once? But regardless of that, you can still say the book is "running" when it is being written or when it is being read. The characters don't just exist in the book, but literally in your mind. Though I still wouldn't call them conscious or even intelligent.
- randallsquared 14y ago
  > What does "running" even mean in a universe where all points in time can exist at once? If they all exist at once, then in what sense are they connected? Certainly not a causal sense, which I would argue matters quite a lot. > The characters don't just exist in the book, but literally in your mind. Though I still wouldn't call them conscious or even intelligent. If your mind was able to simulate the actual process of consciousness in the brain of the character being read about, then I would argue that the character could be conscious. Of course, brains don't have that much additional processing power. :)

Houshalter 14y ago

Well I'm not really claiming the book is sentient, just trying to come up with a criteria that excludes books and everything else except for people, without being completely arbitrary. Anyways you can think of time as a dimension. Each moment of time exists, connected to the ones that came before and come after it. You can represent the every state that a turing machine goes through all at once. Just like those rows of rocks. What does "running" even mean in a universe where all points in time can exist at once? But regardless of that, you can still say the book is "running" when it is being written or when it is being read. The characters don't just exist in the book, but literally in your mind. Though I still wouldn't call them conscious or even intelligent.

randallsquared 14y ago
> What does "running" even mean in a universe where all points in time can exist at once? If they all exist at once, then in what sense are they connected? Certainly not a causal sense, which I would argue matters quite a lot. > The characters don't just exist in the book, but literally in your mind. Though I still wouldn't call them conscious or even intelligent. If your mind was able to simulate the actual process of consciousness in the brain of the character being read about, then I would argue that the character could be conscious. Of course, brains don't have that much additional processing power. :)