• AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    12 days ago

    Unless you go for Cartesian dualist theories about immaterial souls, consciousness of the sort we experience is an artefact of the structure of our brains and nervous systems, which are large in scale and complex. A small blob of human-derived brain tissue is not going to have consciousness, let alone self-awareness and a sense of horror at its predicament, any more than a 555 timer is capable of playing DOOM by virtue of being made of silicon.

    • Techlos@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      12 days ago

      If you follow an integrated information theory derivation, consciousness is emergent from integrating and partitioning information, and with no immaterial soul the possible capability of awareness remains, even if not directly comparable to our own.

      Give that brain some morphine as a treat to be on the safe side, most brains find that one relaxing.

      • Patrikvo@lemmy.zip
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        11 days ago

        Morphine is fine, but please do not put the brain into a robotic spider suit and especially do not add a machine gun to said robotic spider suit.

      • moonshadow@slrpnk.net
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        12 days ago

        Best take here. When not otherwise engaged by an experiment, show that lil glob the best time it’s capable of experiencing

    • CompassRed@discuss.tchncs.de
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      12 days ago

      I don’t think we can say that about consciousness for sure, but I agree with your broader point that it doesn’t have self-awareness or a sense of horror at its predicament.

      This could actually host a very interesting rudimentary form of consciousness that is theorized by some theories of consciousness, especially idealist models like panpsychism or analytic idealism (though I do admit that analytic idealism would phrase it in terms of having a mental state instead of being conscious).

      • T156@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        There’s also the question of why would it experience horror? It’s not exactly in pain, and they way they make the eyes grow is just to add the hormone signal that makes eyes grow when developing.

        So from its perspective, it just got told to make eyes, so it has rudimentary eyes now. Hardly the most horrifying existence.

    • interdimensional_sharts@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      At what point do brain cells develop the complexity for consciousness? Is there a specific number of brain cells which produces self-awareness?

      I have a difficult time believing that consciousness is some artifact that arises from material “complexity and structure”, and tend towards the nondual view of reality.

      But that is just my opinion, and what makes consciousness such a fascinating subject imo.

    • pancake@lemmygrad.ml
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      12 days ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that someone has hacked a single 555 all the way into playing Doom…

    • EtherWhack@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      If you were to think of each of us as a bank of servers, that would be the equivalence of a nightlight with a light sensor

  • moistclump@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    A horror movie where you suddenly gain consciousness just to realize you’re a light-sensitive brain blob.

    • SPRUNT@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      If we’re lucky, in billions of years this one will decide NOT to create “AI”.

    • T156@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      It’s pretty difficult for it to go wrong in a way that isn’t just nothing happening.

      The eyes don’t just grow randomly, you need to give the brain blob a chemical signal that grows eyes in-utero to make the eyes grow.

  • BanMe@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Researchers note that it was immediately given a Disney+Hulu trial subscription.

  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    12 days ago

    I’m really curious, has anyone here not seen this image before? Not playing internet gatekeeper, I’m curious about Lemmy demographics. This image was everywhere like 5-7 years ago.

    • morto@piefed.social
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      12 days ago

      Maybe you overestimate the popularity of the places you frequented? Or maybe people’s memory simply isn’t that good

      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 days ago

        It’s not about raw numbers, more like subgroups, if that makes sense?

        Lemmy is a niche place, yes? Skews techie, nerdie, someone very internet heavy. At least that often seems to be an assumption I see about the place. But I don’t think it’s true, so I would just like to test that assumption, this is just an observation in that test.

        I think Lemmy’s audience is actually fairly diverse, I also think it skews very young comparatively, for the latter in particular I think this is a good test.

        It’s also of course possible that the techie, nerdy internet heavy crowd subgroup is big enough that even isolated to that sample, the chance of encountering someone who has seen the image before is actually that small, but nonetheless it’s a worthwhile observation.

        • morto@piefed.social
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          11 days ago

          I think Lemmy’s audience is actually fairly diverse

          That’s interesting to see your perception of it being fairly diverse. My perception is quite the opposite. It feels like there’s only a very specific demographic in here, and sometimes I even feel like leaving,due to being out from that group

          • public_image_ltd@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            How would you define the demographic and yourself? I guess I am far away from that demographic too, but still like it. Having spent ages on Reddit and left when the api crap happened.

            • morto@piefed.social
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              11 days ago

              It feels like people are mostly from usa, a few from europe and a minority from other places. Most users give the impression of being economically above the average. Being tech-savvy doesn’t even need to be mentioned >.< but people tend to be a bit elitist about it. In fact, elitist it a word that describes much of what I observe around. It’s tricky to talk about it, because no one likes to be pointed on such things, but it’s something clearly observable from anyone from outside, like me

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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      12 days ago

      I’ve not seen it before. But then… I don’t keep up with either science or memes. So it has to break containment or just be a lucky moment when I’m chuckle-scrolling at the right time and place.

    • public_image_ltd@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Actually no. My account is 2 years 7 months and before I have been on reddit for ages. But I cannot remember ever having seen this.