What is consciousness?

[Ulyaoth]

I mean we all know what it is, but I'm thinking on the possibilities of consciousness transfers. I was just looking at that thread about using nanobots to make us immortal or something and someone said something about clones with the same memory not being us. I have to ask why. It just seems like a bit of a mystical belief to say you can't transfer consciousness. I mean all it is is a base of memories connected to a computer to process and act based on those memories and new stimuli. I mean from moment to moment at any particular second that's all our consciousness is, a set of memories and a processor.

Sorry for rambling it's kind of hard to put this concept into words. Why should our consciousness be based in a specific vessel unable to transfer itself? Why if we clone an exact copy of ourselves wouldn't our consciousness be able to transfer into the new body?

[Elfdude]

Are you by chance talking about this: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=369203 ?

If so, the idea was based on the concept that the consciousness is based on a soul. I said a sense of self is based on a continuous memory therefore if the clone was an exact duplicate of you with the same memories it would think it was you even if you were still alive. However if the clone woke up in a lab and understood it was created it would understand that it wasn't you. However how it reacted to this knowledge would be characteristic of your personality because what is your personality is essentially the structure and chemical make up of you and your brain. The two IMO are indistinguishable from one another unless you can possibly trace their exact timelines and steps back to the point of origin which could be made impossible.

Basically, I was arguing against the concept of a soul as responsible for our consciousness and our ability to think and reason. Quetz on the other hand asserts that the clone would not be you because it would not possess your soul because what makes us us is more than just our brains. He had no evidence for this and I posed pretty compelling evidence against it.

Otherwise yeah, I agree with you on the idea that who we are can become essentially data which can be transfered to any vessel with the capacity to store the data.

[Armatus]

What is consciousness?

Awesomeness? hell? love? hate?

Not Conscious = Not awesome

but I second what elfy said.

[Vizsla]

Consciousness is the difference between you when you’re asleep and you when you’re awake.

[Helm]

It's an awareness of the universe and in advanced cases like ours an awareness of the self as well, it seems to be connected with a brain which is essentially an organic super computer, the larger it is in proportion the greater the level of awareness.

[DisgruntledGoat]

You should read destination void. The book, while technologically dated, presents some interesting discussion on the nature of consciousness, what it is to be human and the creation of artificial consciousness. Very entertaining read. Frank Herbert (Dune) was co-author of the novel.

[Time Commander Bob]

Consciousness itself is a simple intuitive concept that cannot understood without having experienced it. What causes consciousness is the real question and the answer to this will allow us to know if/how it can be transferred to clones or computers.