On consciousness

[Bodhi]

Have you ever heard of English as a second language?

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so I'm just going to assume that you have no clue what consciousness.

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So I'm just going to assume that your broken sentence is intentional irony. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

I am dissapointed that you have philosophy listed as an interest in your profile because you do not practice charitibility in interpretation--at all!

[Piers]

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There are four components to consciousness: Sensory data input, memory, reasoning (data processing), and data output. When these four components are present, consciousness is the result.

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Making these condition necessary looks plausible, but having them as sufficient conditions is likely lead to undesired conclusions.

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Note first, that this implies that computers are, to some extent, conscious.

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This is one of the least worrying corollaries of your definition.

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Let's examine an example of Non-consciousness, namely dreams. We all have them, but to varying degrees, we may remember them or not. However, nobody would seriously argue that dreaming is an example of consciousness, would they? But here's the point: In our dreams, we generally have a strong sense of self-awareness. I never dream of "being" somebody else, I am always myself.

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Perhaps it would be better to define yourself to be unconscious when you are asleep but not dreaming. Otherwise don’t define the term “unconscious” as a strict negation of conscious.

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This implies that self-awareness is not crucial to consciousness, contrary to most views. Maybe self-awareness is simply an illusion, or perhaps it is irrelevant.

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I think these conclusions are a consequence of your non standard definition of ‘consciousness’ and ‘unconscious’.

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I'm really not sure where this is headed. The fact that we have a strong sense of self awareness in a state where we are clearly not conscious is troubling.

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Get clear the separation between definitions and real effects.