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This is a question Bullshit and Bullshitters

We've had questions about lies and liars in the past, but this time we're asking about the sort of fantasist who constantly claims they've got a helicopter in the garden or was "second onto the balcony at the Iranian Embassy siege". Tell us about the cobblers you've been told, or the complete lies you've come out with.

Thanks to dozer for the suggestion

(, Thu 13 Jan 2011, 12:55)
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Emergent Behaviour
Consciousness could arise as an Emergent Behaviour in a complex system. This is a valid hypothesis for both the "muddy rock" and "matrix" scenarios: in the first the system is the brain, in the other it's the software that is simulating us.

"Data can't think" is equivalent to saying that "Meat can't think". It clearly does, though we have very little idea how that gets started, or even what it really means, at the moment.

Actually "Data (or Meat) isn't self-aware" is probably a better statement of the problem, as "think" could be interpreted as meaning "process input into output". And previous generations thought that playing chess required "thinking".

As a software engineer I can tell you that even apparently simple systems can generate extremely unexpected emergent behaviours! Not consciousness, perhaps, though there have been a few bugs which appeared to have a grudge against me...
(, Wed 19 Jan 2011, 9:49, Reply)

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