Disembodied Mind

[Nick Soapdish]

Suppose we have reverse-engineered the brain with a suffient level of detail to predict the decision a person makes given an exact set of inputs (sensory inputs, memory, etc).

Suppose I am given the inputs for a person who is deciding whether to propose to their girlfriend. I then work through his algorithm on pen and paper (and supposing I had millions of years to complete such a task) until I determine what the decision this person made. The question is, does the conscious experience of the person get actualized? Is there a "person" in the Universe that thinks he is contemplating marriage for this several second period of making this decision, and then evaporate into nothingness when my calculation is complete?

 

[Random]

Suppose I am given the inputs for a person who is deciding whether to propose to their girlfriend. I then work through his algorithm on pen and paper (and supposing I had millions of years to complete such a task) until I determine what the decision this person made. The question is, does the conscious experience of the person get actualized?

This bit I feel I can answer, though I fear I may have met one of those intellects that cause me sleepless nights in you, Atofel. Okay: the variable in this instance is you knowing, being the omniscient calculator in the equation. Obviously, if you tell the person musing over whether to propose or not and he does, the conscious experience will be different, but no less incomplete. You don't indicate if you tell him or not, so I really can't say how different, but the actualization of it would remain constant for him, the experiencer.

If he didn't know you knew, the same answer. Odd? Not if you think about it (I hope you get my meaning here...).

This next bit is even more ambiguous...

Is there a "person" in the Universe that thinks he is contemplating marriage for this several second period of making this decision, and then evaporate into nothingness when my calculation is complete?

You're trying to rationalize God here, aren't you? Or omniscience, or both. Another variant of the above question might go like this: "Is there a doer that dissapears once the deed is done?"

Yes and no. Yes in the sense that every active experience is defined by the rigid parameters of its own intent and also by the consciousness of the experiencer. If the guy above knew for certain he would eventually propose to his girlfriend yet mused over it anyway, the time he wastes would metaphorically not be his own. Agreed? But no in the sense that the doer and the deed lack distinct identities when conjoined by a an invariable math: if the numbers add up and the sum is sealed, the content of the subsequent experience still doesn't change by either knowing or not-knowing in a priori way.

Jeez, somebody stop me...!

Basically, the answer to your overall question, which I hope I read right, would be that yes, the experiece is actualized in some form regardless. I think...maybe...

 

[Kungfuzed]

I think not. An engineer can draw a car running but it doesn't exist until it's actually built. You can draw youself inside it and give it a virtual test drive but it's only pretend.

I could ask you a question and use your formula to calculate his response but it's just a simulation. You have an acurate idea of his decision on paper. You imagine him making this decision you wrote out but that's as far as it goes. People live on their own power. Our own brain makes our consiousness. My consiousness doesn't require anyone else with pen and paper making calculations.

Then again, perhaps we are just an algorithm. But the brain is what makes the algorithm to begin with. You need a physical brain to base your calculations on.

 

[Ryan2065]

Suppose we have reverse-engineered the brain with a suffient level of detail to predict the decision a person makes given an exact set of inputs (sensory inputs, memory, etc).

Suppose I am given the inputs for a person who is deciding whether to propose to their girlfriend. I then work through his algorithm on pen and paper (and supposing I had millions of years to complete such a task) until I determine what the decision this person made. The question is, does the conscious experience of the person get actualized? Is there a "person" in the Universe that thinks he is contemplating marriage for this several second period of making this decision, and then evaporate into nothingness when my calculation is complete?

My girlfriend always knows what I am going to do before I do it and I haven't gone poof yet...

 

[sandy whitelinger]

My girlfriend always knows what I am going to do before I do it and I haven't gone poof yet...

She knows what you are going to do because she tells you what to do.:yes:

 

[Winnipeg10]

I've allways known that as far as a disembodied mind goes god teaches me that the Brain is merely just a sponge filling and God himself controls the thought process. I don't have the article anymore but there was an instance where a young man had half his brain amputated from wound and still functioned normally.

 

[logician]

"God himself controls the thought process"

Wow, god has screwed up big time with King George.

 

[Buttercup]

I don't have the article anymore but there was an instance where a young man had half his brain amputated from wound and still functioned normally.

And this relates to God how?