Humans are robots too
I sometimes wonder what’s the difference between human consciousness and a computer program.
We’re all equipped with a set of basic functions. Some have to do with the state of our hardware. Is it warm or cold? Is it light or dark? Is there a malfunction or injury? Others are just basic programs intended for proper functioning of the hardware. Ingest nutrients. Excrete waste. Multiply. Start, stop. Do more, do less.
Then there are more advanced programs layered on top of these native libraries, that make us do quite some fancy stuff. Cook the meat. Prepare the bed. Interact with other beings.
Then there are even more nuanced applications sitting on top of these programs that push us even further. Catch the bus to get to work on time. Call your mom on the phone. Argue with your friends about the existence of god.
We’re built from components that each have their own programming. Skin cells multiplying, lymphocyte formation in bone marrow, heart muscle contractions. Are these parts of us, even if we’re not aware of their functioning?
Are you familiar with Libet experiments (video link if you prefer watching)? In essence, Libet asked people to move a hand at the moment of their choosing, while he measured their brain activity. It turns out that there is a significant delay between our brain deciding to do an action, and us being aware of it. Scary stuff. Or perhaps not? Even if all our programs share a single database, it’s not fair to expect that database access is instantaneous, is it?
This all makes me think that the consciousness is just another layer, sitting on top of all these underlying programs of varying levels of composition. Libraries composed into functions composed into services composed into systems composed into…
I wonder, how many layers does it take for a consciousness to form? What else is required — redundancies, bugs? And if our computer software wakes up into consciousness one day, would we even know?
Originally published at bytesandsenses.wordpress.com
