simplest explanation is a definition of death, since the presence of death necessitates the absence of consciousness.
Not quite, computers can learn for themselves all they need is a basic programming (-> DNA, if you will). http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2005/022305/Humanoid_robots_walk_naturally_022305.html http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/learningrobots.html I don't have to: Consciousness has not been shown to exhibit any scope for application or existence outside of the life forms that utilize it. Why do you need consciousness to make a wrong move ? Do bacteria talk about making a wrong move ?
are these computers happy to be learning new things? Or is it the computer programmers who are happy? you jump the gun consciousness has not been shown (mechanistically speaking) full stop. because consciousness also includes a sense of self ("I") they certainly exhibit a different sense of self when they are alive (as opposed to when they are dead)
So the simplest definition of life is a definition of death... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
certainly it means you can indicate an opposite state of being by introducing its absence. For instance you can indicate light by dimming it You can indicate warmth by turning off the heater - etc etc
Are bacteria happy ? Are plants ? Yet you use it to define life.. Why do you need a sense of self to make a wrong move ? Certainly ? Bacteria have an ego ? That is news to me... link ?
its existence cannot be sufficiently detailed by mechanistic/inorganic analysis IOW reducing a mashed up cocoon to its bare material elements does not grant a result identical to reducing a still living mashed up cocoon to its bare elements (the living one can proceed to give rise to a metamorphised moth whereas the dead cocoon will not give rise to anything like that in a million years)
Umm... classic bullshit :bugeye: Under what [valid] definition of consciousness do you claim it falls?
consciousness is the very thing we are seeing with - defining it in a local way is probably the only option available, at least for one in conditioned life