The Great Unrealized Purpose of Science and Technology

[snt]

Your reasoning seems to imply that consciousness 1) can be understood in a technical sense and 2) that it involves design.

It seems that merely the idea of technical advancement + unlimited time is used as a ground for the idea that consciousness can be understood. Such a reasoning would be similar to the argument 'God did it' in my opinion.

The same reasoning seemed to be used in the book Reality+ by David Chalmers as ground for the idea that in the future, VR reality will be 'better than regular reality' although there may be more to it since David Chalmers is known for the Hard Problem of Consciousness argument.

From Dualism to Deism
A philosopher comes full circle ... Chalmers attained rock-star status in philosophy during the late 1990s as a defender of dualism, a metaphysical hypothesis that, at the time, was considered more or less defunct among naturalistically inclined philosophers. Dualists maintain that consciousness cannot be accounted for in purely physical, materialist terms (what Chalmers famously dubbed the “hard problem”). While dualism is certainly not a mainstream view, it is once again being taken seriously by a substantial minority of both scientists and philosophers, in no small part owing to Chalmers’s distinctive arguments and thought experiments.

In this latest offering, Chalmers seems to have come full circle, articulating what he describes as an entirely naturalistic account of God—i.e., a god not exempt from natural laws. That is why the book could mark a turning point in educated opinion. It may be that Chalmers will do for deism what he was able to do for consciousness: make the idea respectable again.
Science, 4 February, 2022 issue

His book is a very nice read to get a basic insight in the cutting edge of VR today (+1,000 pages) and it did become apparent that David Chalmers may have always held a view that would support consciousness in VR, with David Chalmers being an early author of one of the first articles on philosophical ideas that support such a vision. From that perspective, David Chalmers may not have changed his ideas as some people seem to think based on his new book.

Connectism makes this a possibility. Since Pain exists in Conscious Space and is activated when a Conscious Mind is Connected to the Pain Neurons in the Brain we can just eliminate the Pain Connections in an AI. Remember that by that time, we will be Designing the AI and we will understand Consciousness, so it will be an Engineering Design decision. Maybe there will be cases when it would be desirable to make the Pain Connections.

When consciousness can be understood technically and can be re-designed in a future AI. Does that imply that consciousness and sensations such as pain are designed? Does it imply the idea of a deity?

If your answer is no, then what would justify the idea that consciousness is technical in nature?

[SteveKlinko]

Your reasoning seems to imply that consciousness 1) can be understood in a technical sense and 2) that it involves design.

It seems that merely the idea of technical advancement + unlimited time is used as a ground for the idea that consciousness can be understood. Such a reasoning would be similar to the argument 'God did it' in my opinion.

The same reasoning seemed to be used in the book Reality+ by David Chalmers as ground for the idea that in the future, VR reality will be 'better than regular reality' although there may be more to it since David Chalmers is known for the Hard Problem of Consciousness argument.

From Dualism to Deism
A philosopher comes full circle ... Chalmers attained rock-star status in philosophy during the late 1990s as a defender of dualism, a metaphysical hypothesis that, at the time, was considered more or less defunct among naturalistically inclined philosophers. Dualists maintain that consciousness cannot be accounted for in purely physical, materialist terms (what Chalmers famously dubbed the “hard problem”). While dualism is certainly not a mainstream view, it is once again being taken seriously by a substantial minority of both scientists and philosophers, in no small part owing to Chalmers’s distinctive arguments and thought experiments.

In this latest offering, Chalmers seems to have come full circle, articulating what he describes as an entirely naturalistic account of God—i.e., a god not exempt from natural laws. That is why the book could mark a turning point in educated opinion. It may be that Chalmers will do for deism what he was able to do for consciousness: make the idea respectable again.
Science, 4 February, 2022 issue

His book is a very nice read to get a basic insight in the cutting edge of VR today (+1,000 pages) and it did become apparent that David Chalmers may have always held a view that would support consciousness in VR, with David Chalmers being an early author of one of the first articles on philosophical ideas that support such a vision. From that perspective, David Chalmers may not have changed his ideas as some people seem to think based on his new book.

Connectism makes this a possibility. Since Pain exists in Conscious Space and is activated when a Conscious Mind is Connected to the Pain Neurons in the Brain we can just eliminate the Pain Connections in an AI. Remember that by that time, we will be Designing the AI and we will understand Consciousness, so it will be an Engineering Design decision. Maybe there will be cases when it would be desirable to make the Pain Connections.

When consciousness can be understood technically and can be re-designed in a future AI. Does that imply that consciousness and sensations such as pain are designed? Does it imply the idea of a deity?

If your answer is no, then what would justify the idea that consciousness is technical in nature?

I think that the Connections to Consciousness will be understood even if Consciousness itself is not fully understood. The Connections are an easier goal than understanding the whole Phenomenon of Consciousness. From an Engineering point of view it seems inevitable that the Connection mechanism will be discovered. If we know how to Connect then we should be able to Connect selectively to different Sensations and Emotions. We should be able to Not Connect to selected Sensations like Pain. I don't know why you would think this has anything to do with a Deity. This is simply good old Engineering Design.