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<p>Functionalist theories of consciousness attribute consciousness to a system when it displays specific patterns of behaviors and state changes in response to perceptual events and its prior state. These patterns can be disrupted in ways that would intuitively not preclude consciousness. The challenge for functionalists is to explain why pattern-disrupting influences do not remove consciousness. This paper explores this issue in connection with a simple case. Bombs may make it unlikely that nearby brains will manifest typical behaviors. Non-exploding bombs do not preclude consciousness within systems in their vicinity no matter how likely they are to go off. The challenge is trickier than it may first appear: this paper surveys possible responses and raises issues for each.</p>

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Bomb Threats for Functionalists

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年3月22日

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  • Derek Shiller

摘要

Functionalist theories of consciousness attribute consciousness to a system when it displays specific patterns of behaviors and state changes in response to perceptual events and its prior state. These patterns can be disrupted in ways that would intuitively not preclude consciousness. The challenge for functionalists is to explain why pattern-disrupting influences do not remove consciousness. This paper explores this issue in connection with a simple case. Bombs may make it unlikely that nearby brains will manifest typical behaviors. Non-exploding bombs do not preclude consciousness within systems in their vicinity no matter how likely they are to go off. The challenge is trickier than it may first appear: this paper surveys possible responses and raises issues for each.