Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

One question of science is whether consciousness is ‘substrate-neutral’ — in other words, not dependent on a particular underlying ‘substrate’ for it’s functioning. A great philosophical question! But you see where that is heading. Could consciousness be uploaded to a computer (and thus another — and this time non-physical — substrate)? Perhaps the problem is clear — the underlying assumption about consciousness is that it can be broken down into bits and re-built, rather than it being an emergent quality of life plus life’s environments — far less something sacred.

Another great question of science and philosophy that seems alive and well is whether or not the universe is a simulation. This, again, is a variation on a ‘substrate’ problem. Again, I think it is a bit dubious, in that VR and AI are getting to the stage where they can produce viable simulations themselves — simulated realities. All this takes us away from the real eco-systems and the bio-sphere of which we form a part and on which we totally rely.

So — consciousness is substrate-neutral and hence we could create consciousness through AI or upload our own minds to computers. Or — the substrate is an alien civilisation’s computer system and we are just a simulation!

What conclusions might be drawn from the above? Philosophy and science are so far inconclusive — but the current direction is worrying — all related to the ‘substrate’ problem.

So our ‘truth’ is a mixed bag. I have delivered

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