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Bobkgin -> RE: "Love Reign O'er Me" (9/1/2007 7:56:54 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: velvetears
Wikipedia:
Self-awareness is the explicit understanding that one exists. Furthermore, it includes the concept that one exists as an individual, separate from other people, with private thoughts. It may also include the understanding that other people are similarly self-aware. Self-awareness remains a critical mystery in philosophy, psychology, biology, and artificial intelligence.
Also interesting is this:
http://www.livescience.com/animals/061030_elephant_mirror.html
Attempting to construct a model for self-awareness is a fascinating challenge.
For example, is a brain required for thinking?
How do we define "thinking"?
Are emotions a symptom of thinking?
Is selfishness/selflessness a symptom of self-awareness?
What other ways can self-awareness manifest itself?
We can use a homo-centric model to determine which forms of existence exhibit human-like self-awareness.
But beyond that all models break down, mostly because the unanswered questions leave lots of options open.
And those questions remain open because we can't detect thought, except in limited ways in humans and human-like animals (those with brains).
What is to prevent a rock from having its own form of self-awareness, or a tree, or a single-celled organism?
The further we get from the homo-centric model, the harder it is to justify exclusion without being open to accusations of homo-centric bias.
It is in part based on this principle that I find myself believing in a self-aware universe (this and the continuity of existence principle in physics).
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