[FRIAM] Why the Mystery of Consciousness Is Deeper Than We Thought

[Nicholas Thompson]

Hi, All,

Some;body  on this thread suggested that I read the recent article on whale
communication research in Hah-Vud Mag.  It was interesting, but it left me
screaming and beating the magazine with my fists in many places.

If anybody would like to chat about it, I am here for that.  Two comments
to poke the fire a bit:

If this is to be the first time we communicate with another species, what
on earth have i been doing with my dog, all these years?

If you want to understand an alien intelligence, you sure as hell  don't
start with human based categories.  You start with a broader perspective
and place both the human and the alien within it.  Ethology got started
because its predecessor, comparative psychology, was obsessed with imposing
human categories on animals.  Finding out what birdsong is actually doing
has been slowed up for generations by the twin metaphors of music and
language.

Beware lure of charismatic science. Just remember, charisma is a
transaction between an individual and an audience in which the individual
engages unspoken needs of the audience and the audience rewards him/her
with notoriety   Most humans are desperate to have their preconceptions
confirmed.

AAAAARGH!

n


On Thu, Jul 4, 2024 at 7:26 PM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net> wrote:

> I don't get Philip Goff: first we send our children 20 years to school,
> from Kindergarten to college and university, to teach them all kinds of
> languages, and then we wonder how they can be conscious. It will be the
> same for AI: first we spend millions and millions to train them all
> available knowledge, and then we wonder how they can develop understanding
> of language and consciousness...
>
> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mystery-of-consciousness-is-deeper-than-we-thought/
>
> -J.
>
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-- 
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
Clark University
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