virus: Re: virus: kurzweil cuts the mustard

Re: virus: kurzweil cuts the mustard

Robin Faichney (robin@faichney.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 4 Jan 1999 08:50:10 +0000

In message <004601be378c$4fdd39c0$e2194018@CS1000568-A.cgno1.ab.wave.hom e.com>, David McFadzean <morpheus@lucifer.com> writes
>>It is never simply
>>and straightforwardly true either that the thing
>>is conscious or is not conscious
>
>Are you saying there is no truth to the matter
>of whether or not you are conscious?

There is no *objective* truth to it. What truth there is, is intersubjective. In other words, it is very important that we think and act as if we believed each other to be conscious, because the most basic social functions depend upon it. But science will never find consciousness in the brain, because it doesn't reside there (or anywhere else). It is not a thing, nor a process, but a concept (meme) that has a part to play in human social functioning.

Yes, folks, consciousness is a meme! :-)

-- 
Robin