Conversation
Notices
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@velartrill
can't it? like information can only exist when embodied in a physical representation. thought is a physical phenomenon, etc
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@velartrill
summoned plenty of daemons by typing words on a keyboard, and those do very big, "physical world"-y things all the time
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@velartrill
at what point, then, does the "autonomy" of those mechanisms become "real autonomy"? when a simple computer is attached to a printer? when the computer is embedded in a robot that can move around on its own? when a robot is able to create a second and third robot?
like any "information", a computer's internals are just a bunch of physical pieces which happen to behave in a particular way, and the same can be said of our brains. if you have an idea, it's a physical configuration of your insides that physically interacts with and directs your outsides. if you transmit an idea into someone else's head, you have physically changed that person, inducing some physical behaviour
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@velartrill
speaking a word aloud causes pressure oscillations in the air, vibrations in an eardrum etc etc. there is a direct chain of physical effects which can affect another physical human body, and thus a piece of the world, in the same way as punching that piece-of-the-world in the face
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@velartrill
"it only affects those mechanisms because those mechanisms are susceptible to it", and a thing can only be punched in the face if it has a face for punching
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@velartrill
i might talk someone into a suicide attempt, or say something that's known to be distracting at a moment that person might be hurt through inattention (walking/driving into a pole)
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@velartrill
the point is that information is a physical action which, like any other, can have a "significant" effect only on some subset of physical objects
speaking to a rock produces no "significant" result in the same way as punching thing earth
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@velartrill
idunno, just it was interesting. thank you for responding, though; helped me reach a few ideas for writing just now
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