this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

But wouldn't understanding the structure assist is rebuilding a mechanical version and, thus, recreating the consciousness into an artificial mechanism (such as a Terminator-esque android)?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It depends what you mean by "understand". If we have an intact digital connectome and we execute its circuitry in the right kind of simulator. A consciousness would ptobably emerge out of it. But I wouldn't call this "understanding". Trillion neurons and other structures are so complex and interwined, it strains the very idea of "understanding" how it works.

At least not without major aids to break it down into smaller easier to understand chunks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

That's fair. I do make a distinction between understanding how something works and why something works. Making it work the way you describe, to me at least, is understanding enough of how it works to be able to reproduce it, even if we don't yet understand why it works. Until we understand this science, it's magic.