Julian Holmes Wilson Phil 120 12/8/10 Strom: As Conscious as a Tree The problem being demonstrated in this paper

involves the implications of Cartesian dualism versus mind through environment. What is it exactly that we determine to be a conscious being and why do we label one as such? Where do we draw the line? The problem of the line becomes more exacerbated by the concept of human built consciousness. How is it possible that we could build a being that wouldnt be a philosophers zombie? I would argue that with the line currently drawn for consciousness we would not be able to create a non philosopher zombie robot. This is why through my paper I will develop what consciousness entails and argue that humans are actually all zombies. What does it mean to be conscious? This is a problem that mankind has been troubled by since philosophy originated. Since we (humans) were the first ones to contemplate our reason for thought, the answers we tend to generate revolve completely around an anthropomorphic version of the truth. As stated by Nagel, Philosophers share the general human weakness for explanations of what is incomprehensible in terms suited for what is familiar and well understood, though entirely different. (Nagel, 374, Minds I) We have set the baseline at humans, as we are the only creatures we can/have communicated with enough to understand their what is it like to be-ness. We have created a large assumption that being conscious entails a direct awareness of self. In fact I find that the current definitions of consciousness are far too extravagant and misconstrued, ones which tend to be created to make us appear more god-like. I will instead push a new definition for consciousness: The ability for a being to analyze its surroundings is what allows it to be conscious.

In this version of consciousness, all living creatures in the universe which can reproduce to continue its evolution is conscious. This includes humans, mice, insects, trees and of course the robot I will soon unveil. How could a tree be conscious you might ask? Well by our current version of consciousness it makes no sense, however by my new version, how can you deny a tree isnt conscious? It lives, grows, breathes, reproduces, and continues its life-cycle. It has a goal that it has achieved through time and has succeeded. It may not be analyzing the world in the same way we do, but we cannot deny that it is directly affected by its environment. A common skeptic would tell me now that the tree has no idea it has this goal, thus cannot be considered conscious. If this is true, then I shall show you a more anthropomorphic version of that same tree. If we were to build a robot that looked, acted and appeared human in every way. If it had biological elements that made it appear human, such as skin and blood (however both would be synthetic versions to look identical). If say, you were to cut the robot in half, its synthetic organs would run code that would send signals for pain and death. If this robot could think and create its own thoughts with no visible difference from human created thought. And finally most importantly, if this robot believed in every way, shape, and form that it was conscious, would we have any right to tell it is not? Do we have any good argument for it to not be conscious? This robot, named Strom, truly believes that he is human and conscious. What is so absolutely amazing about this robot is that it has lived and grown as a human as well. This is however, greatly important as without this growing up period, Strom would not be able to develop his experiences. Strom lives in a suburban neighborhood, works at the local Nursery, and had gone to school in philosophy. As far as Strom knew, he had a mother and father who died in a car crash, and every day the image haunted him. Strom has many friends who he loves

and enjoys their company. He gets depressed at times, but overall has a positive view of life. Most importantly Strom is looking for the love of his life. He always knew that he wanted a family and children of his own. Luckily for Strom, he isnt the only one who doesnt know he is a robot. Strom is so advanced in technology that there is absolutely no way to distinguish him from a real human, other than if you were one of his creators. For this reason Strom continues to live his life and eventually does find the love of his life. After trying for years to get pregnant, Strom and his wife consult a doctor, only to find out that Strom was infertile (synthetics dont mix with biology). Distraught by this, Strom begins to question his purpose in life, and how he can make his mark in the world. Thus, Strom continues to live out the rest of his life happily with his wife, writing philosophical statements about consciousness. Finally, in old age his wife passes away and he continues to live his life for another 50 years. Towards the end of the 50 years, the synthetic materials are starting to fail and errors begin to cause Strom to believe he is becoming delusional. In his last bit of life he decides to write down his final version of what consciousness is: The ability for a being to analyze its surroundings is what allows it to be conscious. So how is this possible, that a robot would come to the same conclusion that I have? Well, it is quite simple actually. Strom was doing nothing more than analyzing his surroundings to allow him to live as long and fruitful a life he could. This is the same exact way that humans, monkeys, bees and an old apple tree live in this world. All they are doing is analyzing the world, in their own point of view. It is difficult to understand what could be meant by the objective character of an experience, apart from the particular point of view from which its subject apprehends it. (Nagel, 381, Minds I) The only difference between humans and the rest is that

we have a much larger brain capacity allowing us to analyze on a much larger scale. If someone told you that they have learned something from anything besides analyzing the world, they are lying to you. This is why, consciousness cannot exist without an environment and we are nothing more than philosopher zombies. We live in this world believing that somehow we have an element that create our conscious experiences, but that is simply not true, for there is no element inside Strom that gives him consciousness. Rather Strom is conscious by analyzing his environment. The root of this argument goes back to evolution and Darwinian Theory. I believe that Carl Sagan says it well, My fundamental premise about the brain is that all its workings what we sometimes call `mind are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology and nothing more. (Morowitz, 33, Minds I) The only problem with Sagans statement is that he forgets just why the anatomy and physiology exists in the first place, an environment. We cannot extend the mind outside the body any more than we can extend the body outside the world. We have evolved, just as all organisms, for our environment. It is only now, that we as humans have gained access to unfathomable information that we can even start to question why we think in the first place. The problem is however, that with all this information we begin to forget that we are actually just organisms. That the root of our consciousness results from the same reasons that all other organisms have consciousness and the need to live, and this need to live only exists with a world to live within. The question on all of our minds at this point is why exactly we are all philosopher zombies? Well the reason for that isnt as complicated as one might think. To understand why this is true, I will place Strom in a new experiment. This time Strom isnt living his life in the real human world, but instead Strom lives in a room 2000 square feet large, that is completely

barren with no ability for escape. This time Strom has no interaction with anyone or anything, so as he grows he is unable to build any true experience. There is nothing more than sensory deprivation. In essence Strom is a blank slate information wise but has the capability for advanced human thought. However, since this room has absolutely nothing for him to analyze he does not have any thoughts, thus is not conscious. Now this new Strom is exactly like the other Strom in every way, except for one key element, the environment. The first Strom requires a back story for its environment, and once it is in this environment he works to make a life and create a future based off his experiences. The second Strom however, has no environment to analyze and no experiences from such an environment to contemplate and postulate. Thus, without an environment Strom is just a zombie. This fact of environmental observation being key, was only more exemplified by quality of quantum mechanics, the role of the observer became an even more central part of physical theory, an essential component in defining an event. The mind of the observer emerged as a necessary element in the structure of the theory. (Morowitz, 35, Minds I) In other words, the fact that we observe something defines our mind. We are only what we observe, for anything that we do not know cannot affect us, but once we know something, we cannot stop it from affecting us. I believe that Heidegger and Schrdinger place a little too much emphasis on the power of our minds to determine the truth. Schrdingers cat is not killed, nor saved by the observation, but rather the fact that the cat is dead or alive changes our observation. As Morowitz states, The physical event and the content of the human mind were inseparable. (Morowitz, 32, Minds I) Thus the conclusion that can be made from this experiment is that we are only conscious through

the analyzing of an environment. This means that the human state itself is a zombie as without any sensory impulse there is no state of mind.