The mind trap.
The mind trap.
I have spend a good deal of my ponderings attempting to divorce intelligence from consciousness, if I am honest this is probably because I believe that the former will be a property of computing machines in the near future and I don't want to be just a mere machine.
Throughout our lives we are told of how vastly complex and beautiful the human body is in its construction, and I think we use this fact to bolster our opinions of our own minds. In reality there is no real proof that our minds do work in an unattainably complex manner. Think how you'd feel if you found that your mind was actually considerably simpler than your body, and could in fact be explained 'away' in mere words. Eek!
No wonder Turing topped himself (yes I know there were perhaps other reasons too). The machines in his mind passed the test thus proving to himself that he was just one of them. Ouch. I too have been down this path. I have conclusively proved to myself that I am a machine and let me tell you - I did not find it a pleasant experience!
When I was young I used to speculate that the best way to create a conscious computer was simply to strap two of them together without a direct connection between them. When one is examining itself for the ego, it finds nothing but gets the feeling that there is someone else, something 'other' which it labels as 'self'. When the other tries the same act, it finds the same result. Because there is no direct connection between the two halves the computers can never work this one out. Uh-Oh, wasn't there something about the brain being two halves only semi connected?
Never mind thought-police consider thought-control. If you have intelligent structures which rely on the association of concepts to create thoughts and action. Imagine if those pathways were blocked. Certain thoughts would be impossible to think. No of course the brain is a bit cleverer than this, a thought can be re-routed, and an association structure/pattern stored anywhere within. However suppression 'programs' clearly do run albeit with limited efficacy within our own minds, so it is at least possible (although power consuming to do this).
If you were really trying to physically stop a certain thought from ever being made real you'd surely never be able to do it: or would you, look to the paragraph above. The division of the brain into two halves might prevent it ever finding out that it was a machine! Sure it can guess, ponder, speculate, but the design ensures that it can never find out for itself! Oh my goodness.
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A page from James David Chapman's website.
Located at: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jchap/ Site mirrored here at: http://www.j.chap.btinternet.co.uk |
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