rationalskepticism.org

GrahamH wrote:

SpeedOfSound wrote:

GrahamH wrote:

SpeedOfSound wrote:
An interesting but far more detailed theory, on attention and efference copy, is Cotterill's Enchanted Looms. Got that on order. I certainly need to review Graziano after my David Rose reading.

Thanks for the pointer.


I'm not convinced that a discussion like this one needs a "far more detailed theory on attention and efference copy". We are talking philosophy here and we need to grasp the core concept rather than the intricate details. It seems to me Graziano does that well, and does ground it in the neuroscience of attention.


What is Cotterill's core insight that makes sense of C?

Cotterill gets deep into the circuitry. I have only read a synopsis by David Rose and am waiting for Cotterill's book.

Graziano and I differ in definitions of C and awareness but not attention. I will see about modifying my definitions to follow his. Need to read more about where he is going first. He has that Venn diagram at the beginning of the book.

I recall a C discussion we had a long time ago about a robot "P- zombie". That if it could indeed function indistinguishably from a human, meaning being able to communicate a full range of subjective experiences, that it would be conscious (as much as humans are). That contradiction showing P-Zombies to be an incoherent concept


Graziano in a nutshell is that the brain that works out all our understanding works out what is being attended to and interprets that as subjective experience. The brain attributes consciousness to itself. He concludes:

Graziano wrote:The theory is truly explanatory in the sense that it explains the observables. It explains how an information-processing machine can scan its internal data and so find, discover, conclude, decide, assign certainty that it is aware of this or that, that awareness has all the properties that humans normally ascribe to it. The theory explains how a brain can decide with such confidence that it has an inner experience. It explains how a brain can attribute that particular, complex, rich, idiosyncratic combination of properties to itself, to others, to pets and even to ghosts and to gods.