A list of puns related to "Artificial cell"
This seems big news to me. What do you say?
I heard the Philip Goff episode on "Consciousness Everywhere" Chalmers episode on consciousness, and the Kate Adamala episode on "Creating Synthetic Life", close to each other. Adamala was extremely interesting for me, because I know nothing about that topic. While listening to her, I started thinking about interaction with the Chalmers views.
I don't subscribe, myself, to mind-body-dualism. I have always aligned with SC's view that "the stuff is all there is, and is sufficiently explanatory" -- even long before I discovered SC or his books. Thus I wonder, if Adamala's lab or others would be successful in creating artificial life out of nothing but stuff, where does that leave mind-body-dualists?
I suppose they could argue:
There is no path from individual artificial cells to artificial consciousness. That seems like a last, desperate stand.
Somehow, the non-stuff they attribute the mind to becomes "automatically" or magically attached to the stuff when the stuff is arranged into a cell.
If Adamala's lab or similar work yields eventual success, does that not drive a nail into mind-body-dualism? At least, it seems like the space for that outlook becomes squeezed. It begins to feel like a "god of the gaps" argument. Right now we can drive trucks through the gaps, but after artificial cells, those gaps are squeezed.
Please note that this site uses cookies to personalise content and adverts, to provide social media features, and to analyse web traffic. Click here for more information.