Raúl
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Philosophical Zombies (p-zombie) - 2007/06/01 13:51
As per the discussion starter by user Plato Demosthenes elsewhere about zombies, I've created this new thread where the topic can be approached in detail.
As a brief introduction on the topic, let's use this excerpt from [1]:
Philosopher's zombies are hypothetical beings behaviorally, functionally, and perhaps even physically indistinguishable from normal humans, but who lack our consciousness. Many people seem to be convinced that such zombies are a real conceptual possibility, and that this bare possibility entails that understanding human consciousness must remain forever beyond the reach of science. However, the conceptual entailments of zombiehood have not been sufficiently examined. [...]
In this paper, Nigel argues that zombies are not conceptually possible. However, there are many arguments and ideas around this concept.
David Chalmers offers a useful classification of the types of zombies in [2]. As per the title of this thread, we will focus here on philosophical zombies (These are found in philosophical articles on consciousness. Their defining features is that they lack conscious experience, but are behaviorally (and often physically) identical to normal humans).
[1] Thomas Nigel. Zombie Killer. Paper read at the Toward a Science of Consciousness (Tucson II) Conference, Tucson, AZ, April 1996. (http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/nthomas/zom-abs.htm)
[2] http://consc.net/zombies.html
Post edited by: Raúl, at: 2007/06/01 13:51
Raúl Arrabales Moreno. conscious-robots.com/raul |
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