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AI, Cybernetics, Philosophy.
Feb. 9th, 2012 10:59 pmI found my laptop charger.
Tuesday, in the course of teaching about Philosophy of Mind, I talked to my students about AI, & Star Trek: The Next Generation, and made them listen to The Android Sisters, "Treasury Wizards."
Today I got to teach about Functionalism, Autonomous Created Intelligence, AND Cybernetics.
AND IT WAS ALL RELEVANT TO CLASS!
Yesterday, in Critical Thinking, I actually had a student tell me how glad they were that I was teaching them. Today, I had a student tell me how much he loved the class and the material.
This is what they call "Livin' The Dream," y'all.
Yesterday, I posed this Philosophical Quandary, various places: Does Identity Necessitate Determinism?
That is, if we say that two things are Exactly Identical-- even going so far as minds-- then that means that they have precisely the same properties, reactions, interactions. Memories, ranges of choice, thoughts w/in a given situation.
Is the formulation of Identity-- in this formulation, of SELF--possible in a non-deterministic context? How so or why not?
Another example: teleportation. Using quantum entanglement, we figure out how to teleport matter, even human beings. Using quantum information theory, we break things down into the smallest measurable units;we break the into bits (technical bits) and then we transmit their information. We do this do people.
Is the person who walks out of the teleporter the same person who walked in? Why or why not?
Personally, I'm inclined to say that they are. That, if a mind with memories exists, and continues after the teleportation, then that mind is the SAME MIND. It is equivalent to the mind which went into the teleporter.
But. Why would it be? Is it down to physical states? And if so, does that mean a deterministic universe?
I can paint a compatibalist picture of this, but I wanted to see what your intuitions and thoughts were.
The past two days, my guiding principle for style has been "If I were to be described in a novel, it should be as 'A Very Stylish Bruise.'"
I need more suits.
Tuesday, in the course of teaching about Philosophy of Mind, I talked to my students about AI, & Star Trek: The Next Generation, and made them listen to The Android Sisters, "Treasury Wizards."
Today I got to teach about Functionalism, Autonomous Created Intelligence, AND Cybernetics.
AND IT WAS ALL RELEVANT TO CLASS!
Yesterday, in Critical Thinking, I actually had a student tell me how glad they were that I was teaching them. Today, I had a student tell me how much he loved the class and the material.
This is what they call "Livin' The Dream," y'all.
Yesterday, I posed this Philosophical Quandary, various places: Does Identity Necessitate Determinism?
That is, if we say that two things are Exactly Identical-- even going so far as minds-- then that means that they have precisely the same properties, reactions, interactions. Memories, ranges of choice, thoughts w/in a given situation.
Is the formulation of Identity-- in this formulation, of SELF--possible in a non-deterministic context? How so or why not?
Another example: teleportation. Using quantum entanglement, we figure out how to teleport matter, even human beings. Using quantum information theory, we break things down into the smallest measurable units;we break the into bits (technical bits) and then we transmit their information. We do this do people.
Is the person who walks out of the teleporter the same person who walked in? Why or why not?
Personally, I'm inclined to say that they are. That, if a mind with memories exists, and continues after the teleportation, then that mind is the SAME MIND. It is equivalent to the mind which went into the teleporter.
But. Why would it be? Is it down to physical states? And if so, does that mean a deterministic universe?
I can paint a compatibalist picture of this, but I wanted to see what your intuitions and thoughts were.
The past two days, my guiding principle for style has been "If I were to be described in a novel, it should be as 'A Very Stylish Bruise.'"
I need more suits.
