Michael Darling (madarlin@ouray.cudenver.edu)
Thu, 18 Jun 1998 20:06:20 +0100
3.
If C is the ability to act in anticipation of a sense, it can't be running
away from a snake or skunk. It would have to be more like running away
from an imagined snake or skunk, ie, one not yet sensed by sight or other
sense. There's a word for this kind of behavior, but it isn't usually
sentient nor conscious.
And of course if the tree falls it makes a sound whether anyone is there
to hear it or not. Was the planet Pluto reflecting light before anyone
could see it? Yes. The universe doesn't need to be experienced or
observed to exist. The laws of physics say that if the tree falls it
makes noise. No one needs to hear it of for the noise to exist, and it
doesn't even cease to be relevant to our existence, ie the part of the
universe we are sensing, if the noise goes unheard. It has existence and
so it has an effect.
It could be that my reliance on the laws of physics even when I cannot
observe their action is faith. And maybe that is where sentience comes
in- I know something, believe it, for all sorts of reasons not based on
direct perception.
Michael
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