Cartesian dualism is a kind of substance dualism, which has many problems. But there is also property dualism, which is most famously defended by David Chalmers. Given that he is a (perhaps even “the”) top philosopher of mind, property dualism is probably not so easy to dismiss. Other philosophers have similar views, like Galen Strawson. He says consciousness is likely a fundamental property, just like, perhaps, mass. This means any physical theory of everything must contain irreducible terms for all fundamental properties and relate the to the others. So he says mental terms would be part of a complete physical theory of the universe. The difference between physicalism and dualism would be only one of terminology.
I’m fairly sure Tononi said multiple times that IIT implies a simulated brain would not be conscious. I’m not sure how this affects the Chinese room, but it seems plausible it would work by simulating a brain. Then it wouldn’t be conscious.
And a technical issue: The footnotes are not responding to click. Or is this just me?
I’m fairly sure Tononi said multiple times that IIT implies a simulated brain would not be conscious. I’m not sure how this affects the Chinese room, but it seems plausible it would work by simulating a brain. Then it wouldn’t be conscious.
Why does this follow? The simulation still has states and information that can be integrated.
This is a great post, thank you! A few comments:
Cartesian dualism is a kind of substance dualism, which has many problems. But there is also property dualism, which is most famously defended by David Chalmers. Given that he is a (perhaps even “the”) top philosopher of mind, property dualism is probably not so easy to dismiss. Other philosophers have similar views, like Galen Strawson. He says consciousness is likely a fundamental property, just like, perhaps, mass. This means any physical theory of everything must contain irreducible terms for all fundamental properties and relate the to the others. So he says mental terms would be part of a complete physical theory of the universe. The difference between physicalism and dualism would be only one of terminology.
I’m fairly sure Tononi said multiple times that IIT implies a simulated brain would not be conscious. I’m not sure how this affects the Chinese room, but it seems plausible it would work by simulating a brain. Then it wouldn’t be conscious.
And a technical issue: The footnotes are not responding to click. Or is this just me?
Why does this follow? The simulation still has states and information that can be integrated.
What matters for IIT are the physical states of the computer which runs the simulation, which are very different from the brain it simulates.