Date Posted:08:16 Author: Eponymous - 24 Jan 2002 Subject: Re: No Brain = No Mind In reply to:
ketch
's message, "Re: No Brain = No Mind" on 08:15
My test would only require an estimate of the duration to an appropriate order of magnitude, say 3 minutes v. 30 minutes v. 300 minutes.
Your practical objection (that there would have to be some brain activity to support life) is just that – a practical objection. It is not an objection to in-principle falsifiability. I only sketched a principled way the premise you cite could be falsified; I’m not setting out do design a research platform, nor does my argument require that I do.
Nonetheless, that and your other objections are easily turned aside: I’d be satisfied if only the known necessary conditions of consciousness were suppressed in a test subject’s brain (e.g., by applying the relevant type of anesthetic), and the subject were still able to estimate T to the nearest order of magnitude.
