MINSKY%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP (01/13/87)
I don't believe that the phenomenon of "first order cosciousness" exists, that Harnad talks about. The part of the mind that speaks is not experiencing the toothache, but is reacting to signals that were sent some small time ago from other parts of the brain. I think Harnad's phenomenology is too simple-minded to take seriously. If he has ever had a toothache, he will remember that one is not conscious of it all the time, even if it is very painful; one become aware of it in episodes of various lengths. I suppose he'll argue that he remains unconsciously conscious of it. I don't want to carry on, only to ask him to review his insistence that ANTHING can happen instantaneously - no matter how convincing the illusion is, for example that you are seeing what is happening before your eyes, now, rather than something that happened d/c seconds ago, or that signals travel from one part of the brain/mind to another faster than light. As for that "mind/body problem" I repeat my slogan, "Minds are simply what brains do."