Notes- Nov 14- metaphysics (tu/th)
nick smith

Exam begins tomorrow at 7:30, ends Thursday, Nov 21st
It covers personal identity and life after death- class discussions and chapter 4 (except pluralism)
The exam won’t cover what’s on the study guide from the question on determinism down.
Last day to drop is Friday
Monday office hours are 4-5:55
Next read chapter 6

Nirvana- a state of desireless bliss
Argument against: an essential part of humanity is goal-directed activity, which seems to require desire

Functionalism- a mind is a function of a substance
It can be any substance- brain, spiritual substance, computer
A mind is anything that can perform certain kinds of complex operations
-using language
-solving problems
-pursuing goals

A.I. = Artificial Intelligence
There is no difference between electrical impulses in the brain and electrical impulses in a computer chip

Objections:
1. Could an AI have qualia?
2. Chinese Room Argument (John Searle)
There is a mono-lingual Frenchman in a room with a Chinese-English dictionary. A statement in Chinese is slipped under the door, he translates it to English and slips it outside. This is like a computer- it accomplishes tasks, but isn’t really aware.
Semantics- the meanings of words, the computer (or Frenchie) does not understand
Syntax- the symbolic rules, the computer/Frenchie does understand


Hume and Buddha both say there is no substantial self
Hume says what we call the self is just a bundle of perceptions,
Buddha says self is just 5 processes