Surprised
Interesting shift, I thought you were going to be a materialist but you then shift into Cartesian dualism and, not to put too fine a point on it, a bunch of woo.

The assertion that a Turing machine can't become aware of what it's doing seems unfounded. You probably wouldn't predict that a huge agglomeration of neurons could become aware of what it's doing, but many people would assert that it does. You, being a dualist, would probably disagree, but there's no evidence that consciousness arises from anything other than the brain. As you say "robot[s] made out of meat".
(flimflam_machine, Wed 25 Mar 2009, 12:22, 1 reply)

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I admit that saying that a Turing-machine can not become self aware is just an assertion on my part, but I personally can't see how something that just follows a fixed set of rules can develop self-awareness. And yes, I'm a believer of Cartesian dualism. I get the impression that in the brain, the neurons digest all the stimuli and stored memories into something the conciousness can cope with. As for where conciousness can arise from, so far, it has only been known to manifest itself in brains, but I have absolutely no idea what the pre-requisites for spawning a new conciousness are.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Wed 25 Mar 2009, 22:30, closed)

Thought experiment
What makes you think that a brain doesn't just follow a fixed set of rules?

There's an interesting thought experiment described here:

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580363,00.html

In short it poses this problem: Imagine you have a neurological disease that destroys your brain and nervous system slowly. However, due to the wonder of modern technology, medics replace each bit of your nervous system, even down to the level of individual neurons, as it dies. The replacement parts are electro-mechanical devices that perfectly replicate the function of your neurons.

Now, how much of your brain could be replaced before you no longer had the same consciousness, or were no longer conscious (as you describe it) at all?

As far as I can work out, we're based on carbon, robots are based on silicon and that's pretty much the extent of the difference.

Also, if consciousness is a non-material thing, why do neurons (material things) have to "digest all the stimuli and stored memories into something the conciousness can cope with"?
(flimflam_machine, Thu 26 Mar 2009, 11:53, closed)