Does your theory suggest that humans who do not have fun are not conscious? I would suggest that consciousness is most generally the act of learning. Once something is learned, we can perform it unconsciously, or subconsciously. I think the conscious mind is that process that is seeking new information to post to the memory.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I'm using "fun" very broadly. I guess if someone only ever does what's needed for survival, what we describe as "living on autopilot" or "sleepwalking through life", then in a sense they're certainly not as conscious. But it's more that the fun criterion is a threshold test: it will have false negatives, so there will be beings that are conscious that don't meet the threshold; but hopefully anything that does is conscious, i.e. it's a sufficient condition, but not necessary. I think you're right that it has to ultimately be about learning in some way. Indeed, the function of play in young mammals and birds is said to be a way to learn flexible behaviours for later in life.
This article was great, the best I've read this week.
Ted Chiang has an interesting story about artificial intelligence and what constitutes consciousness (The Life cycle of Software Objects). Reading this brought it to mind.
Does your theory suggest that humans who do not have fun are not conscious? I would suggest that consciousness is most generally the act of learning. Once something is learned, we can perform it unconsciously, or subconsciously. I think the conscious mind is that process that is seeking new information to post to the memory.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I'm using "fun" very broadly. I guess if someone only ever does what's needed for survival, what we describe as "living on autopilot" or "sleepwalking through life", then in a sense they're certainly not as conscious. But it's more that the fun criterion is a threshold test: it will have false negatives, so there will be beings that are conscious that don't meet the threshold; but hopefully anything that does is conscious, i.e. it's a sufficient condition, but not necessary. I think you're right that it has to ultimately be about learning in some way. Indeed, the function of play in young mammals and birds is said to be a way to learn flexible behaviours for later in life.
This article was great, the best I've read this week.
Ted Chiang has an interesting story about artificial intelligence and what constitutes consciousness (The Life cycle of Software Objects). Reading this brought it to mind.
Thank you! I’ve read that story, the one about the AI pets. I think Chiang is one of the best.