From: Smigrodzki, Rafal (SmigrodzkiR@msx.upmc.edu)
Date: Thu Jun 27 2002 - 15:02:54 MDT
Colin Hales [mailto:colin@versalog.com.au] wrote:
When you do this kind of analysis, the 1st person experience of it cannot
be used as a factor in determining rights, all else being equal.
The subtle mystery of the 'self' and self referentiality is the key to it.
### Some say (e.g. Antonio Damasio), that the 1st person experience of
consciousness is a self-referential process of modelling the mind in
interaction with the environment. Cyc doesn't have a model of self, and does
not monitor its interactions with the environment except in the simplest
manner. Once it learns to do that, it will be much more conscious than a
toaster.
IMO, the fundamental (but not only) factor in determining rights is volition
- the conscious act of desiring something. If you desire to live, you have
the right to live. Of course, as a prerequisite to desire, you have to
understand what it is to live, you have to understand self within the world
- but this understanding of a subtle mystery alone doesn't mean you have
rights. You need to demand a right to have it.
Rafal
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