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by RaichuKFM @, Northeastern Ohio, Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 13:20 (2378 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Ah, but, the symbolic representation of green is an emergent consequence of a set of brainstates a human mind can have. By simulating a mind within certain parameters (not colorblind, has memories of green things, etc.) you not only can have a representation of green, but in fact necessarily must. Even if there is no external representation of green.

Green is not an external thing. Not really. Green is a concept, an experience, a quale; green is a symbolic representation invented by a human mind in response to stimuli. It doesn't matter whether or not there is anything simulated to represent the stimuli. Configured such that it has memories of a green thing, a human mind has a concept of green.

If you take that mind and assemble a perfect duplicate bit by bit, the resulting mind will still have a concept of green, even if it's been assembled in a simulation with no programmed parameters for color or light at all!

Our conceptions only necessarily relate to ourselves, not the truth of the world, or platonic ideals. They are probably an attempt to relate to and interpret the truth of the world, by way of our senses, but those are never absolutely reliable.

If you disagree with me, I will point to the fact that you (I presume) know you have a concept of green, and that your consciousness, at least, exists; but you don't actually know with complete justified certainty that there are actual green things in reality. It's just the best inference from your perceptions and experiences.

(If you don't have a concept of green, just replace it with another experience tied to a sense, argument should hold.)


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