Quantity of experience: brain-duplication and degrees of consciousness

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In this Subject: Computer Science
By this author: Bostrom, Nick

Author: Bostrom, Nick

Source: Minds and Machines, Volume 16, Number 2, May 2006 , pp. 185-200(16)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

If a brain is duplicated so that there are two brains in identical states, are there then two numerically distinct phenomenal experiences or only one? There are two, I argue, and given computationalism, this has implications for what it is to implement a computation. I then consider what happens when a computation is implemented in a system that either uses unreliable components or possesses varying degrees of parallelism. I show that in some of these cases there can be, in a deep and intriguing sense, a fractional (non-integer) number of qualitatively identical phenomenal experiences. This, in turn, has implications for what lessons one should draw from neural replacement scenarios such as Chalmers' “Fading Qualia” thought experiment.

Keywords: Computation; Mind; Consciousness; Implementation; Duplication; Fading qualia; Chalmers; Searle; Program; Probabilistic; Deterministic