Earth Day condoms/Robot consciousness
Giving out condoms at the Democracy Matters table at the Earth Day fair made more people uncomfortable than we expected. The fact that I didn't foresee this says something about how I've changed in the past year or so, I think.
Speaking of DM, our bill for Clean Elections is being heard by the Rhode Island House Finance Committee on Wednesday at 1 pm. Show up if you're in the area--we want to pack the room with warm, enthusiastic bodies. There is a high chance that I'm going to be roped into testifying, which will be the first time I can remember doing real public speaking since a high school forum on the War in Iraq.
Change of subject: Can/will robots ever be conscious? I ate dinner tonight with Joshua the Poet and his red-haired friend who is very sweet and quiet but who probably has interesting things to say that she's not saying since she spends so much time hanging around these eccentric dudes (Joshua, Alan 50's, Enrique Pretense), and apparently the three of them--Joshua, the red-head, and Alan 50's, who is in my philosophy of mind class--had had a very long conversation on the topic recently. Joshua is staunchly against machine consciousness, but wasn't really able to articulate why. Alan 50's, who joined us later, was very much a believer--which I didn't expect, since earlier in the semester he was saying he sympathized with Cartesian dualism. I guess the positions are compatible(?). What do you think? (My own answer is kind of complicated)
Funny line of dialogue, which I found flattering:
Alan 50's: Seb is going to be the progenitor of the next generation.
Me: Of robots? Or...people? [pause] I guess it would work to do both. First get the robots to do my bidding, then...
Alan 50's: Yes. Build a robot army and then wipe out everybody else except you.
Me: Well, me and the ladies.
[pause]
Alan 50's: Hey, what about me?
Me: [a second's thought] How do you feel about castration?
Alan 50's: ... I feel ok, as long as I can complete my history.
Then he told me about the Chinese historian Sima Qian, to whom he was alluding, who apparently said the same thing when given a similar choice.
Speaking of DM, our bill for Clean Elections is being heard by the Rhode Island House Finance Committee on Wednesday at 1 pm. Show up if you're in the area--we want to pack the room with warm, enthusiastic bodies. There is a high chance that I'm going to be roped into testifying, which will be the first time I can remember doing real public speaking since a high school forum on the War in Iraq.
Change of subject: Can/will robots ever be conscious? I ate dinner tonight with Joshua the Poet and his red-haired friend who is very sweet and quiet but who probably has interesting things to say that she's not saying since she spends so much time hanging around these eccentric dudes (Joshua, Alan 50's, Enrique Pretense), and apparently the three of them--Joshua, the red-head, and Alan 50's, who is in my philosophy of mind class--had had a very long conversation on the topic recently. Joshua is staunchly against machine consciousness, but wasn't really able to articulate why. Alan 50's, who joined us later, was very much a believer--which I didn't expect, since earlier in the semester he was saying he sympathized with Cartesian dualism. I guess the positions are compatible(?). What do you think? (My own answer is kind of complicated)
Funny line of dialogue, which I found flattering:
Alan 50's: Seb is going to be the progenitor of the next generation.
Me: Of robots? Or...people? [pause] I guess it would work to do both. First get the robots to do my bidding, then...
Alan 50's: Yes. Build a robot army and then wipe out everybody else except you.
Me: Well, me and the ladies.
[pause]
Alan 50's: Hey, what about me?
Me: [a second's thought] How do you feel about castration?
Alan 50's: ... I feel ok, as long as I can complete my history.
Then he told me about the Chinese historian Sima Qian, to whom he was alluding, who apparently said the same thing when given a similar choice.