From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat Dec 11 1999 - 10:45:38 MST
Zeb Haradon <zharadon@inconnect.com> Wrote:
> Qualia are REAL. This is undeniable.
Yes but I would go further, qualia are (is?) the only thing that I "know"
to be real. By "know" I mean being certain I understand the essence
of a thing and also being correct.
>People who deny their existence remind me of the Mr. Spock
>stereotyped scientist portrayed on tv who will put forth some
>argument like "love doesn't really exist, it's simply a series of
>biochemical reactions"
I've never met anybody who said qualia didn't exist, at least
nobody who was serious. I have met and agreed with those
who say that if, despite the strong evidence from evolution
to the contrary, behavior and qualia are nevertheless totally
independent then there is absolutely nothing of importance
anyone can ever say on the subject except red is exactly like red.
Put it another way, I you think the Turing Test can not be used
to detect qualia in another entity then you should retire the
word "qualia" from your vocabulary because it becomes a
meaningless string of ASCII characters. You just can't express
the inexpressible. I however have confidence in the Turing Test
so I can use the q word without (much) embarrassment.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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