 Quote by Q_Goest
Hi baywax,
Yes, this is part of the standard model of computationalism. "Emergence" is often used to explain how all these "zombie-like characteristics" might produce the phenomenon of consciousness.
<grin>
All this is a perfectly legitimate way of looking at ‘brainwashing’ of people as is done by “militants” or any cult or religious group. But please understand, you are not talking about p-zombies here. P-zombies have a very specific definition which is not to be extended to people that have been brainwashed or otherwise made unaware of their surroundings in some way such as by drugs, alchohol, etc… as previously suggested in this thread.
Sentience is indeed the ultimate distinction between a p-zombie and a human. I’m only refering to the use of the term as is used in the philosophy of consciousness, and that has nothing to do with a lack of respect for life. In fact, p-zombies might be insulted-z that you are suggesting they are less respectful of human life than they are.  |
Oh... (red faced smirk) a p-zombie. Let's see, there's plenty of them in chronic care in the hospital. They don't feel it when you poke them with a needle or a catheter and they're pretty well unaware of the difference between individuals.
These are people who have served as citizens even heroically yet are now shells of their former selves with responses that don't match what they are experiencing. Some of them are actually killed with overdoses of morphine because the learned behavior of their facial expressions denote pain when they actually feel nothing at all.
But, for the most part, since a p-zombie is a tool that's been crafted for argumentative endevours and thought experiments it seems to be a superfluous creature.
The idea that "regular" zombies might evolve to become dominant in a universe that demands response to stimulus ie: cause and effect, is at most an impossibility. Zombies, like polititicans and other mal contents will always be shooting themselves in the foot or their friends in the face.
Quote by wicpedia
(A) p-zombie is a hypothetical being that is indistinguishable from a normal human being except that it lacks conscious experience, qualia, sentience, or sapience. When a zombie is poked with a sharp object, for example, it does not feel any pain. It behaves exactly as if it does feel pain (it may say "Ouch!" and so forth), but it does not actually have the experience of pain as a person normally does.
The notion of a philosophical zombie is mainly used in arguments (often called zombie arguments) in the philosophy of mind, particularly arguments against forms of physicalism, such as materialism and behaviorism.
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