
Self As Symbol - robg
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/337947/title/Self_as_Symbol
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evincarofautumn
On a related note, “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid” was good,
though rather slow going. I figure most people here will have read it, but in
case not, Hofstadter basically contends that any sufficiently complex system
is capable of consciousness.

He _almost_ goes so far as to say that a complex system actually
_necessitates_ consciousness. In much the same way that it’s difficult to
prevent a language from becoming Turing-complete, perhaps it’s just as
difficult to prevent biological systems from tending toward self-awareness.
I’m inclined to agree, and this gives me a couple of hopes: first, that we
will someday make an AI that most agree is genuinely conscious; and second,
that we will find a way to gradually replace a brain in its entirety with a
non-biological substitute, so that we could live forever—in mind if not in
body. Far-off dreams, but what’s the harm?

If there are any neurobiologists in the room, take it away. :P

