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Other Consciousnesses


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#1 Dr. Strangelove

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Posted 07 March 2010 - 22:17

This seems to me, to be one of the great unsolved problems of existential Philosophy. How do you prove that other consciousnesses really exist? You can't read other people's minds, so how do you know they aren't just very sophisticated robots?
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#2 CodeCat

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Posted 07 March 2010 - 23:04

An interesting question. Answers may range from 'it doesn't matter' to 'how do you know you're not one yourself?'.
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#3 Dr. Strangelove

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Posted 07 March 2010 - 23:11

View PostCodeCat, on 8 Mar 2010, 0:04, said:

'how do you know you're not one yourself?'.

Assuming things that cannot be proven true are untrue, no matter how much I knew I would never know everything about myself and thus I would never be able to predict my own actions, leading to free will. However, it is possible that there is no outside world and that all of reality is just my consciousness perceiving itself, which would allow for omniscience, in which case all knowledge would just be self-reflection.
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#4 Major Fuckup

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Posted 18 March 2010 - 13:58

View PostThe Machman, on 8 Mar 2010, 7:11, said:

View PostCodeCat, on 8 Mar 2010, 0:04, said:

'how do you know you're not one yourself?'.

Assuming things that cannot be proven true are untrue, no matter how much I knew I would never know everything about myself and thus I would never be able to predict my own actions, leading to free will. However, it is possible that there is no outside world and that all of reality is just my consciousness perceiving itself, which would allow for omniscience, in which case all knowledge would just be self-reflection.

We can predict what actions we take because we have to think about it then send that action to what limbs and bodily functions we are going to use based on the situation you are in while factoring in previous experiences and the surrounding environment like you wouldn't walk normally when you are transitioning from walking on a flat surface to walking down stairs. I would assume that you would predict that you will change your bodily motion to walk down those stairs or you would stack it other wise?
If we where robot's you would think after playing with a metal detector that would quash any doubt otherwise :P

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#5 Dr. Strangelove

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Posted 18 March 2010 - 23:12

View PostMajor Fuckup, on 18 Mar 2010, 14:58, said:

View PostThe Machman, on 8 Mar 2010, 7:11, said:

View PostCodeCat, on 8 Mar 2010, 0:04, said:

'how do you know you're not one yourself?'.

Assuming things that cannot be proven true are untrue, no matter how much I knew I would never know everything about myself and thus I would never be able to predict my own actions, leading to free will. However, it is possible that there is no outside world and that all of reality is just my consciousness perceiving itself, which would allow for omniscience, in which case all knowledge would just be self-reflection.

We can predict what actions we take because we have to think about it then send that action to what limbs and bodily functions we are going to use based on the situation you are in while factoring in previous experiences and the surrounding environment like you wouldn't walk normally when you are transitioning from walking on a flat surface to walking down stairs. I would assume that you would predict that you will change your bodily motion to walk down those stairs or you would stack it other wise?
If we where robot's you would think after playing with a metal detector that would quash any doubt otherwise :P

But if I knew ahead of time I couldn't choose, now could I?
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