Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

Software 268capable of devising elaborate context-sensitive self-regarding act then there is no way ofremoving his self-symbol without downgrade his behavioral talents to pre-lobsterstupidity.Let Ralph have his self-symbol, then, but would a "feeling of perssonalconsciousness" go along with it? To return to our question, is portrayal of Ralph asconscious necessary? It makes a better story, b the first-person perspective from RalphNumbers's point of view a of cheat? Poetic license, like Beatrix Potter's talking bunnyrabbits, better, the Little Engine That Could?It is all very well to insist that you can conceive of Ralph Nurn existing with allhis clever behavior but entirely lacking in consciousness (Searle makes such a claim inselection 22, "Minds, Brains, and grams.") Indeed you can always view a robot that wayif you want. concentrate on images of little bits of internal hardware and re yourself thatthey are vehicles of information only by virtue of cleverly designed interrelationshipsbetween events in the sensed environment robotic actions, and the rest. But equally, youcan view a human being way if you are really intent on it. Just concentrate on images oflittle of brain tissue-neurons and synapses and the like-and remind your that they arevehicles of information only by virtue of wonderfully signed interrelationships betweensensed events in the environment bodily actions, and the rest. What you would leave outif you insisted viewing another person that way would be that person's point of view, wesay. But isn't there a point of view for Ralph Numbers too? When are told the tale fromthat point of view, we understand what is going what decisions are being made, whathopes and fears are being ac upon. The point of view, viewed in the abstract as a sort ofplace f which to tell the story, is perfectly well defined even if we are inclined think thatthat point of view would be vacated, or uninhabited, w Ralph Numbers really to exist.But why, finally, would anyone think the point of view was vacated If the RalphNumbers body existed, with its needs and circumstances,. if that body was self-controlledin the ways imagined in the story, and moreover, the speech acts it could performincluded avowals of h things were from Ralph Numbers's point of view, what groundswould anyone have-other than those of a vestigial and mystical dualism mind and bodyforbeing skeptical about the existence of Ralph Numbers himself? -D.C.D