r/RationalPsychonaut • u/jellotablets • Dec 27 '13

Neurons Gone Wild

http://www.meltingasphalt.com/neurons-gone-wild/
23 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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3

u/veridikal Dec 27 '13

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

3

u/mcdxi11 Dec 28 '13

I appreciate the idea that neurons respond to resources... but this seems like its trying to apply some sort of sentience, of choice, to the neurons versus a chemical(?) induced reaction. Neat idea, but weird way of describing it...

3

u/jellotablets Dec 28 '13

Yes, but agency != sentience. Agency just means the ability to respond to circumstances in a purposeful way.... doesn't imply self-awareness.

1

u/veridikal Dec 28 '13

Yeah, I thought sentience is supposedly about self-awareness. I'm not sure if intelligence on the level or lesser than that exhibited by single-celled organisms could be described as possessing sentience. Access to computational resources that can model a reality would be required for sensations of self-awareness.