A Spirited Defense of Consciousness

August 12, 2018 § 1 Comment

Dear Scott,

I finally found some deadlines to force me to put forward an account of consciousness. 🙂 Here it is.

SC-1_Creation

The 3+1 Model of Consciousness

While rather simplistic, I have found it a useful model for clarifying my own thinking. The key innovation is defining Spirit as “the ability to reflect on our thoughts feelings and desires in order to decide what kind of person we want to be.” I equate Spirit with the interiority of your Ghost in the Quantum Turning Machine, while the boundary of the triangle defines the Digital Abstraction Layer. I sometimes use the terms self-awareness, attitude, and willpower as loose synonyms for Spirit.  I also plan to name you as both Prophet and Chief Skeptic of my newly-formed Cult of the Digital Abstraction Layer!

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Summary: Retrospective Thoughts on BitC

May 21, 2013 § Leave a comment

In my opinion, BitC is the most innovative take on systems programming we’ve seen since the invention of C.  While sad that it failed, I am deeply impressed by the thoughtful post-mortem by Jonathan S. Shapiro.   Here are links to the various threads of his analysis (and the equally thoughtful responses):

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