ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Searle - Philosopher
John Searle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself.

Why you should listen

American philosopher John Serle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself. In his early work, he focused on the nature of language and what we are conveying when we speak and how the intention behind what we intend to say can the meaning of words from context to context.

He is best known for his “Chinese Room” thought experiment, which challenges the notion of a truly intelligent artificial intelligence. In it, he imagines a room containing an individual, who speaks only English, working with a set of English instructions to write a series of Chinese characters in order to anonymous communicate with a Chinese speaker outside the room. If that individual follows the instructions carefully, she can effectively fool the Chinese speaker into thinking he’s talking to someone who understands his language. Serle argues that, at the very least, the metaphor raises deep complications as to whether or not one can truly describe convincing simulations of intelligence as intelligent.

He remains of firm believer that subjective experiences are real -- even if they don’t always describe things are they really are -- and are worth thinking about in objective terms because of it.

More profile about the speaker
John Searle | Speaker | TED.com
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John Searle: Our shared condition -- consciousness

John Searle: A nosa condición en común - a consciencia

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1,460,625 views

O filósofo John Searle expón os motivos para estudar a consciencia humana —e unha tras outra derriba as obxeccións máis comúns que impiden tomala en serio. Ao aprendermos máis sobre os procesos cerebrais que producen a consciencia, é un paso importante aceptarmos que a consciencia é un fenómeno biolóxico. E non, di Searle, a consciencia non é unha enorme simulación de ordenador.
- Philosopher
John Searle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I'm going to talk about consciousness.
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Vouvos falar da consciencia
00:15
Why consciousness?
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Por que da consciencia?
00:16
Well, it's a curiously neglected subject,
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Porque é un asunto curiosamente descoidado
00:19
both in our scientific and our philosophical culture.
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tanto na nosa cultura científica
coma na filosófica.
00:22
Now why is that curious?
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E por que é curioso?
00:24
Well, it is the most important aspect of our lives
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Ben, é o aspecto máis
importante das nosas vidas
00:27
for a very simple, logical reason,
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por unha razón moi sinxela e lóxica,
nomeadamente, para que algo sexa
importante nas nosas vidas
00:29
namely, it's a necessary condition on anything
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00:32
being important in our lives that we're conscious.
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é necesario que esteamos conscientes.
00:34
You care about science, philosophy, music, art, whatever --
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Se che gusta a ciencia, a filosofía,
a música, a arte, o que sexa,
00:37
it's no good if you're a zombie or in a coma, right?
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non serve de nada se es un zombi
ou estás en coma, verdade?
00:41
So consciousness is number one.
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Entón a consciencia é primordial.
00:43
The second reason is that when people do
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A segunda razón é que cando
esperta o interese da xente,
00:46
get interested in it, as I think they should,
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como penso que debería ser sempre,
00:48
they tend to say the most appalling things.
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a miúdo din unhas cousas espantosas.
00:51
And then, even when they're not saying appalling things
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E incluso cando non din cousas espantosas
00:53
and they're really trying to do serious research,
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e realmente tratan de facer
investigación seria,
00:55
well, it's been slow. Progress has been slow.
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mesmo entón o progreso é lento.
00:59
When I first got interested in this, I thought, well,
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Cando me interesei por isto
por primeira vez, pensei,
01:02
it's a straightforward problem in biology.
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é un problema de bioloxía moi claro.
Deixemos traballar a estes picacerebros
01:04
Let's get these brain stabbers to get busy and figure out
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e que descubran como funciona o cerebro.
01:07
how it works in the brain.
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01:08
So I went over to UCSF and I talked to all
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Así que fun á Universidade de California
01:09
the heavy-duty neurobiologists there,
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a falar con todos os neurobiólogos
importantes de alí,
01:11
and they showed some impatience,
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e impacientáronse un pouco,
01:13
as scientists often do when you ask them embarrassing questions.
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como lles adoita pasar aos científicos
cando lles fan preguntas incómodas.
01:16
But the thing that struck me is, one guy said in exasperation,
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Pero o que me chamou a atención
foi o que dixo exasperado
01:20
a very famous neurobiologist, he said, "Look,
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un neurobiólogo moi famoso. Dixo:
01:22
in my discipline it's okay to be interested in consciousness,
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"Na miña disciplina está ben
interesarse pola consciencia,
01:26
but get tenure first. Get tenure first."
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mais primeiro obtén o posto.
Primeiro obtén unha praza."
01:29
Now I've been working on this for a long time.
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Levo traballado nisto moito tempo.
Hoxe é posible obter praza fixa
01:32
I think now you might actually get tenure
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traballando sobre a consciencia.
01:34
by working on consciousness.
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01:35
If so, that's a real step forward.
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De ser así, é un grande avance
01:38
Okay, now why then is this curious reluctance
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Entón por que hai esta curiosa reticencia
01:41
and curious hostility to consciousness?
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e hostilidade cara á consciencia?
01:43
Well, I think it's a combination of two features
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Penso que é a combinación de dous aspectos
01:45
of our intellectual culture
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da nosa cultura intelectual
01:47
that like to think they're opposing each other
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que parece que son opostos,
01:50
but in fact they share a common set of assumptions.
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mais que en realidade comparten
unha serie de supostos.
01:53
One feature is the tradition of religious dualism:
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Un aspecto é a tradición
do dualismo relixioso.
01:57
Consciousness is not a part of the physical world.
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A consciencia non é parte do mundo físico,
02:01
It's a part of the spiritual world.
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é parte do mundo espiritual,
02:03
It belongs to the soul,
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perténcelle á alma,
02:04
and the soul is not a part of the physical world.
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e a alma non é parte do mundo físico.
02:07
That's the tradition of God, the soul and immortality.
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Esta é a tradición de Deus,
da alma e da inmortalidade.
A outra tradición, que pensa
que é a oposta,
02:11
There's another tradition that thinks it's opposed to this
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02:13
but accepts the worst assumption.
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acepta o peor dos supostos.
02:15
That tradition thinks that we are heavy-duty scientific materialists:
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Nesta tradición somos
materialistas científicos firmes:
02:19
Consciousness is not a part of the physical world.
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A consciencia non é parte do mundo físico.
02:22
Either it doesn't exist at all, or it's something else,
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Ou ben non existe en absoluto,
ou ben é outra cousa,
02:25
a computer program or some damn fool thing,
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un programa de computador
ou algunha outra parvada,
02:28
but in any case it's not part of science.
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mais en ningún caso é parte da ciencia.
02:31
And I used to get in an argument that really gave me a stomachache.
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Eu adoitaba entrar en discusións
que me daban dor de cabeza.
02:33
Here's how it went.
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Eran algo así:
02:35
Science is objective, consciousness is subjective,
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A ciencia é obxectiva,
a consciencia subxectiva,
02:39
therefore there cannot be a science of consciousness.
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por tanto non pode haber
unha ciencia da consciencia.
02:42
Okay, so these twin traditions are paralyzing us.
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Ou sexa que estas tradicións xemelgas
nos están a paralizar.
02:48
It's very hard to get out of these twin traditions.
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É moi difícil escapar delas.
02:51
And I have only one real message in this lecture,
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E teño unha soa mensaxe neste relatorio:
02:54
and that is, consciousness is a biological phenomenon
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a consciencia é un fenómeno biolóxico
02:58
like photosynthesis, digestion, mitosis --
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como a fotosíntese, a dixestión, a mitose
03:01
you know all the biological phenomena -- and once you accept that,
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—xa coñecedes todos
os fenómenos biolóxicos—
e unha vez que aceptamos isto,
03:05
most, though not all, of the hard problems
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case todos os problemas serios
sobre a consciencia desaparecen.
03:08
about consciousness simply evaporate.
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03:10
And I'm going to go through some of them.
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Vou examinar algúns deles.
03:12
Okay, now I promised you to tell you some
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Vale, prometinvos contar
algunhas das cousas espantosas
que se dixeron sobre a consciencia.
03:14
of the outrageous things said about consciousness.
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03:17
One: Consciousness does not exist.
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Unha: a consciencia non existe,
é unha ilusión, coma os solpores.
03:21
It's an illusion, like sunsets.
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03:23
Science has shown sunsets and rainbows are illusions.
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A ciencia demostrou que os solpores
e os arcos da vella son ilusións,
así que a consciencia é unha ilusión.
03:28
So consciousness is an illusion.
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Dúas: quizais exista, pero é outra cousa,
03:30
Two: Well, maybe it exists, but it's really something else.
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03:33
It's a computer program running in the brain.
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un programa de computador
que funciona no cerebro.
03:37
Three: No, the only thing that exists is really behavior.
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Tres: non, o único que existe
é o comportamento.
03:41
It's embarrassing how influential behaviorism was,
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Resulta moi vergonzoso
o influente que foi o condutismo,
03:44
but I'll get back to that.
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mais xa retomarei isto.
03:46
And four: Maybe consciousness exists,
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E catro: quizais a consciencia exista,
03:48
but it can't make any difference to the world.
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mais non pode cambiar o mundo.
03:50
How could spirituality move anything?
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Como ía poder mover nada
a espiritualidade?
03:53
Now, whenever somebody tells me that, I think,
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Cando alguén me di iso, penso:
03:55
you want to see spirituality move something?
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"Queres ver como a
espiritualidade move algo?"
03:57
Watch. I decide consciously to raise my arm,
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Mirade, decido de xeito consciente
levantar o brazo
04:01
and the damn thing goes up. (Laughter)
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e o condenado levántase (Risas)
04:03
Furthermore, notice this:
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Ademais, fixádevos nisto:
04:07
We do not say, "Well, it's a bit like the weather in Geneva.
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Non dicimos: "É un pouco
como o tempo en Xenebra.
04:11
Some days it goes up and some days it doesn't go up."
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Algúns días sobe e outros non."
04:14
No. It goes up whenever I damn well want it to.
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Non, sobe cada vez que a min me dá a gana.
04:16
Okay. I'm going to tell you how that's possible.
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Vouvos dicir como é posíbel.
04:18
Now, I haven't yet given you a definition.
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Aínda non vos dei unha definición,
04:22
You can't do this if you don't give a definition.
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e isto non se pode facer
sen unha definición.
04:24
People always say consciousness is very hard to define.
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Sempre dicimos que a consciencia
é moi difícil de definir.
Eu penso que é bastante sinxelo,
04:27
I think it's rather easy to define
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se non tratamos de dar
unha definición científica,
04:29
if you're not trying to give a scientific definition.
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04:32
We're not ready for a scientific definition,
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para a cal non estamos preparados.
Mais aquí tedes unha
de sentido común:
04:34
but here's a common-sense definition.
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04:36
Consciousness consists of all those states of feeling
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A consciencia consiste
en todos os estados de sentimento,
04:38
or sentience or awareness.
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de sensación ou de alerta.
04:40
It begins in the morning when you wake up from a dreamless sleep,
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Comeza pola mañá cando acordamos
dun sono sen soños
04:44
and it goes on all day until you fall asleep
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e continúa ata que adormecemos,
04:47
or die or otherwise become unconscious.
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morremos ou quedamos inconscientes.
04:50
Dreams are a form of consciousness on this definition.
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Os soños son unha forma de consciencia,
segundo esta definición.
04:53
Now, that's the common-sense definition. That's our target.
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Ben, esta é a definición
de sentido común, o noso obxectivo.
04:56
If you're not talking about that, you're not talking about consciousness.
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Se non estamos falando disto,
non estamos falando da consciencia.
04:59
But they think, "Well, if that's it, that's an awful problem.
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A xente pensa: "se a definición é así,
temos un problema horroroso.
05:03
How can such a thing exist as part of the real world?"
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Como pode existir tal cousa
no mundo real?"
05:07
And this, if you've ever had a philosophy course,
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Se algunha vez fostes
a unha clase de filosofía
05:09
this is known as the famous mind-body problem.
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este é o famoso problema mente-corpo.
05:12
I think that has a simple solution too. I'm going to give it to you.
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Penso que ten tamén unha solución sinxela.
Vóuvola dar:
05:15
And here it is: All of our conscious states, without exception,
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todos os estados de consciencia,
sen excepción,
05:19
are caused by lower-level neurobiological processes in the brain,
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están causados por procesos
neurobiolóxicos de baixo nivel,
05:25
and they are realized in the brain
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e realízanse no cerebro
como de alto nivel
ou como características de sistema.
05:27
as higher-level or system features.
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05:29
It's about as mysterious as the liquidity of water.
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É tan misterioso como
o estado líquido da auga.
05:32
Right? The liquidity is not an extra juice squirted out
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O estado líquido non é un zume
que expulsan as moléculas de H2O,
05:36
by the H2O molecules.
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05:37
It's a condition that the system is in.
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é unha condición en que está o sistema,
05:40
And just as the jar full of water can go from liquid to solid
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e do mesmo xeito que
unha xerra chea de auga
pode pasar de líquido a sólido
05:45
depending on the behavior of the molecules,
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dependendo do comportamento das moléculas,
05:47
so your brain can go from a state of being conscious
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o cerebro pode pasar
dun estado de consciencia
05:50
to a state of being unconscious,
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a un estado de inconsciencia
05:52
depending on the behavior of the molecules.
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dependendo do comportamento das moléculas.
05:55
The famous mind-body problem is that simple.
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O famoso problema mente-corpo
é así de sinxelo.
05:59
All right? But now we get into some harder questions.
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Mais agora vaiamos a
preguntas máis complicadas:
06:03
Let's specify the exact features of consciousness,
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imos especificar as características
exactas da consciencia
06:06
so that we can then answer those four objections
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para despois podermos responder
esas catro obxeccións
06:09
that I made to it.
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que propuxen antes.
06:10
Well, the first feature is, it's real and irreducible.
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A primeira, que a consciencia
é real e irredutíbel;
06:14
You can't get rid of it.
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non podemos desfacernos dela.
06:16
You see, the distinction between reality and illusion
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Veredes, a distinción
entre realidade e ilusión
é a diferenza entre como
nos parecen as cousas de xeito consciente
06:20
is the distinction between how things
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06:23
consciously seem to us and how they really are.
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e como son en realidade.
Conscientemente, parécenos que hai
06:27
It consciously seems like there's --
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06:29
I like the French "arc-en-ciel" —
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—gústame a expresión francesa
"arc-en-ciel"—
06:30
it seems like there's an arch in the sky,
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parece que hai un arco no ceo
06:33
or it seems like the sun is setting over the mountains.
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ou parece que o sol está poñéndose
tras das montañas.
06:36
It consciously seems to us, but that's not really happening.
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Parécenolo conscientemente,
mais non está pasando en realidade.
06:39
But for that distinction between
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Mais nesa distinción entre
06:41
how things consciously seem and how they really are,
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como parecen as cousas
e como son en realidade,
06:44
you can't make that distinction for the very existence of consciousness,
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non podemos incluír a distinción
para a propia existencia da consciencia
06:48
because where the very existence of consciousness is concerned,
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porque ata onde concirne á consciencia,
06:52
if it consciously seems to you that you are conscious,
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se de xeito consciente
pensas que es consciente,
06:55
you are conscious.
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entón es consciente.
06:57
I mean, if a bunch of experts come to me and say,
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Se un grupo de expertos vén e me di:
"Somos uns neurobiólogos moi importantes
e fixemos un estudio sobre ti, Searle,
07:00
"We are heavy-duty neurobiologists and we've done a study
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07:02
of you, Searle, and we're convinced you are not conscious,
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e estamos convencidos
de que non es consciente,
07:05
you are a very cleverly constructed robot,"
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es un robot moi ben construído",
07:07
I don't think, "Well, maybe these guys are right, you know?"
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eu non vou pensar:
"Pode que estes tipos teñan razón".
07:11
I don't think that for a moment, because, I mean,
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Nin se me pasa pola cabeza,
porque, quero dicir,
pode que Descartes cometera moitos erros,
mais tiña razón en que
07:13
Descartes may have made a lot of mistakes, but he was right about this.
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07:16
You cannot doubt the existence of your own consciousness.
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non podemos dubidar da existencia
da nosa propia consciencia.
07:19
Okay, that's the first feature of consciousness.
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Esta é a primeira característica
da consciencia:
07:21
It's real and irreducible.
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é real e irredutíbel,
07:23
You cannot get rid of it by showing that it's an illusion
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non podes desfacerte dela
demostrando que é unha ilusión
07:27
in a way that you can with other standard illusions.
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do mesmo modo que si podes
coas outras ilusións normais.
07:30
Okay, the second feature is this one
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A segunda característica
é a que nos ten dado tantos problemas,
07:32
that has been such a source of trouble to us,
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e consiste en que
todos os estados de consciencia
07:35
and that is, all of our conscious states
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07:37
have this qualitative character to them.
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teñen un carácter cualitativo.
07:40
There's something that it feels like to drink beer
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O que sentimos ao beber cervexa
07:42
which is not what it feels like to do your income tax
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non é o que sentimos ao facer
a declaración da renda
07:45
or listen to music, and this qualitative feel
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ou ao escoitar música, e esta
sensación cualitativa
07:48
automatically generates a third feature,
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automaticamente xera
unha terceira característica,
07:51
namely, conscious states are by definition subjective
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nomeadamente, os estados de consciencia
son por definición subxectivos
07:55
in the sense that they only exist as experienced
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no sentido que só existen
en tanto son experimentados
07:58
by some human or animal subject,
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por un suxeito humano ou animal,
08:00
some self that experiences them.
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por un ser que os experimenta.
Quizais sexamos quen
de construír unha máquina consciente,
08:02
Maybe we'll be able to build a conscious machine.
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08:04
Since we don't know how our brains do it,
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mais como non sabemos
como o fan os nosos cerebros,
08:06
we're not in a position, so far, to build a conscious machine.
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de momento, non podemos construíla.
08:10
Okay. Another feature of consciousness
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Outra característica da consciencia
08:13
is that it comes in unified conscious fields.
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é que se dá en campos
de consciencia unificados.
Así, non teño a visión
de xente diante de min,
08:17
So I don't just have the sight of the people in front of me
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08:20
and the sound of my voice and the weight of my shoes
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e o son da miña voz
e o peso dos meus zapatos
08:22
against the floor, but they occur to me
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contra o chan, senón que me ocorren
08:25
as part of one single great conscious field
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como parte dun único campo de consciencia
que se estende cara a adiante
e cara a atrás.
08:28
that stretches forward and backward.
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08:30
That is the key to understanding
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Esta é a chave para comprendermos
08:32
the enormous power of consciousness.
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o enorme poder da consciencia.
08:34
And we have not been able to do that in a robot.
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E non fomos quen de facelo nun robot.
08:37
The disappointment of robotics derives from the fact
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A decepción da robótica deriva
08:40
that we don't know how to make a conscious robot,
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de non sabermos como facer
un robot consciente
08:42
so we don't have a machine that can do this kind of thing.
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polo que non temos unha máquina
que poida facer estas cousas.
08:45
Okay, the next feature of consciousness,
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A seguinte característica da consciencia,
despois deste marabilloso
campo de consciencia unificado,
08:48
after this marvelous unified conscious field,
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é que funciona de forma causal
no noso comportamento.
08:51
is that it functions causally in our behavior.
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08:54
I gave you a scientific demonstration by raising my hand,
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Fixen unha demostración científica
levantando a miña man,
08:57
but how is that possible?
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mais como é posíbel?
08:58
How can it be that this thought in my brain
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Como pode ser que
un pensamento no meu cerebro
09:02
can move material objects?
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poida mover obxectos materiais?
09:04
Well, I'll tell you the answer.
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Vouvos dar a resposta.
En realidade non sabemos
a resposta en detalle,
09:06
I mean, we don't know the detailed answer,
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09:08
but we know the basic part of the answer, and that is,
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mais sabemos a parte básica:
09:11
there is a sequence of neuron firings,
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hai unha secuencia
de actividades neuronais
09:13
and they terminate where the acetylcholine
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que remata onde se segrega a acetilcolina
09:16
is secreted at the axon end-plates of the motor neurons.
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nas terminacións axonais
das neuronas motoras.
09:19
Sorry to use philosophical terminology here,
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Desculpádeme por usar
xerga filosófica,
09:21
but when it's secreted at the axon end-plates of the motor neurons,
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mais cando se segrega nas terminacións
axonais das neuronas motoras,
09:25
a whole lot of wonderful things happen in the ion channels
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pasan un montón de cousas
marabillosas nos canais iónicos
09:28
and the damned arm goes up.
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e o condenado brazo elévase.
09:30
Now, think of what I told you.
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Agora pensade no que vos dixen.
09:32
One and the same event,
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Un mesmo evento,
09:34
my conscious decision to raise my arm
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a miña decisión consciente
de levantar o brazo
09:37
has a level of description where it has all of these
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ten un nivel de descrición
onde aparecen todas estas
09:39
touchy-feely spiritual qualities.
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calidades sentimentais e espirituais.
09:42
It's a thought in my brain, but at the same time,
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É un pensamento no meu cerebro
mais ao mesmo tempo,
09:44
it's busy secreting acetylcholine
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1986
está ocupado segregando acetilcolina
09:46
and doing all sorts of other things
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e facendo moitas outras cousas
09:47
as it makes its way from the motor cortex
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a medida que se abre camiño
dende o córtex motor
09:50
down through the nerve fibers in the arm.
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ata as fibras nerviosas do meu brazo.
09:53
Now, what that tells us is that our traditional vocabularies
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Isto o que nos di é que
o noso vocabulario tradicional
09:57
for discussing these issues are totally obsolete.
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para falar destes asuntos
está totalmente obsoleto.
10:00
One and the same event has a level of description
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O mesmo suceso ten
un nivel de descrición
10:03
where it's neurobiological, and another level of description
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no cal é neurobiolóxico
e outro nivel de descrición
10:06
where it's mental, and that's a single event,
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no que é mental,
e é un mesmo suceso,
10:09
and that's how nature works. That's how it's possible
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e é como traballa a natureza.
Así é como é posíbel
10:11
for consciousness to function causally.
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que a consciencia funcione causalmente.
10:14
Okay, now with that in mind,
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Vale, agora con isto en mente,
10:17
with going through these various features of consciousness,
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logo de repasar as distintas
características da consciencia,
10:20
let's go back and answer some of those early objections.
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volvamos atrás para responder
algunhas desas primeiras obxeccións.
10:23
Well, the first one I said was, consciousness doesn't exist,
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A primeira que mencionei foi
que a consciencia non existe,
que é unha ilusión. Esa xa a respondín.
10:26
it's an illusion. Well, I've already answered that.
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10:28
I don't think we need to worry about that.
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Penso que non debemos
preocuparnos por iso.
10:30
But the second one had an incredible influence,
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Mais a segunda tivo
unha influencia incríbel,
10:34
and may still be around, and that is,
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e se cadra sigue escoitándose:
10:35
"Well, if consciousness exists, it's really something else.
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"Se a consciencia existe, é outra cousa.
10:39
It's really a digital computer program running in your brain
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En realidade é un programa dixital
de ordenador instalado no cerebro,
10:42
and that's what we need to do to create consciousness
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2505
e o que temos que facer
para crear consciencia
10:45
is get the right program.
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1496
é dar co programa adecuado.”
10:46
Yeah, forget about the hardware. Any hardware will do
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Si, esquecede o hardware,
calquera hardware valerá
10:49
provided it's rich enough and stable enough to carry the program."
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sempre que sexa suficientemente rico
e estábel para soportar o programa."
10:52
Now, we know that that's wrong.
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Agora sabemos que isto é incorrecto.
10:55
I mean, anybody who's thought about computers at all
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Calquera que pensara en computadores
10:58
can see that that's wrong, because computation
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pode ver que é erróneo,
porque a computación
11:00
is defined as symbol manipulation,
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2415
defínese como a manipulación de símbolos,
11:03
usually thought of as zeros as ones, but any symbols will do.
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normalmente de ceros e uns,
mais calquera símbolo vale.
11:05
You get an algorithm that you can program
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Temos un algoritmo que podemos programar
11:09
in a binary code, and that's the defining trait
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3107
en código binario, e ese
é o trazo definitorio
11:12
of the computer program.
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2051
do programa de computador.
11:14
But we know that that's purely syntactical. That's symbolic.
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Mais sabemos que isto é puramente
sintáctico, é simbólico;
11:18
We know that actual human consciousness has something more than that.
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sabemos que a consciencia humana
ten algo máis que iso,
11:22
It's got a content in addition to the syntax.
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ten un contido, ademais da sintaxe;
11:25
It's got a semantics.
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1497
ten semántica.
11:26
Now that argument, I made that argument 30 --
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Este argumento propúxeno hai trinta
—mi madriña, non quero nin pensalo—
11:29
oh my God, I don't want to think about it —
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11:30
more than 30 years ago,
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hai máis de trinta anos,
11:31
but there's a deeper argument implicit in what I've told you,
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mais hai un argumento implícito
no que vos acabo de dicir,
11:34
and I want to tell you that argument briefly, and that is,
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e quérovolo contar brevemente; é que
11:37
consciousness creates an observer-independent reality.
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a consciencia crea unha realidade
independente do observador.
11:42
It creates a reality of money, property, government,
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3488
Crea unha realidade do diñeiro,
da propiedade, do goberno,
11:45
marriage, CERN conferences,
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3972
do matrimonio, das conferencias do CERN,
11:49
cocktail parties and summer vacations,
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2619
dos cócteles e
das vacacións de verán,
11:52
and all of those are creations of consciousness.
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e todas son creacións da consciencia.
11:54
Their existence is observer-relative.
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2835
A súa existencia
está en relación co observador.
11:57
It's only relative to conscious agents that a piece of paper
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Só en relación con axentes conscientes
un anaco de papel é diñeiro,
ou un conxunto de edificios
é unha universidade.
12:01
is money or that a bunch of buildings is a university.
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12:04
Now, ask yourself about computation.
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3874
Agora, preguntádevos algo
sobre a computación.
12:07
Is that absolute, like force and mass and gravitational attraction?
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3669
É absoluta, como a forza, a masa
e a atracción gravitacional?
12:11
Or is it observer-relative?
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2132
Ou está en relación co observador?
12:13
Well, some computations are intrinsic.
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Ben, algunhas computacións
son intrínsecas.
12:17
I add two plus two to get four.
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1911
Dous máis dous son catro.
12:19
That's going on no matter what anybody thinks.
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Funciona sen que importe
o que pense ninguén,
12:21
But when I haul out my pocket calculator
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mais cando tiro do peto a calculadora
12:24
and do the calculation, the only intrinsic phenomenon
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3782
e fago os cálculos, o único
fenómeno intrínseco
12:28
is the electronic circuit and its behavior.
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3175
é o circuíto electrónico e
o seu comportamento.
12:31
That's the only absolute phenomenon.
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É o único fenómeno absoluto,
12:33
All the rest is interpreted by us.
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todo o demais é interpretado por nós.
12:35
Computation only exists relative to consciousness.
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3841
A computación só existe
en relación á consciencia;
12:39
Either a conscious agent is carrying out the computation,
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2775
ou ben un axente consciente
leva a cabo a computación,
12:42
or he's got a piece of machinery that admits of a computational interpretation.
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3643
ou ten unha máquina que admite
unha interpretación computacional.
12:45
Now that doesn't mean computation is arbitrary.
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Isto non quere dicir que
a computación sexa arbitraria.
12:48
I spent a lot of money on this hardware.
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Gastei un montón de cartos neste hardware.
12:51
But we have this persistent confusion
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Mais temos unha confusión persistente
12:53
between objectivity and subjectivity as features of reality
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4721
entre obxectividade e subxectividade
en tanto características da realidade,
12:58
and objectivity and subjectivity as features of claims.
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3928
e obxectividade e subxectividade
en tanto características de afirmacións.
13:01
And the bottom line of this part of my talk is this:
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3166
A esencia desta parte do
meu relatorio é a seguinte:
13:05
You can have a completely objective science,
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podemos ter unha ciencia
completamente obxectiva,
13:08
a science where you make objectively true claims,
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2912
unha ciencia onde facemos afirmacións
obxectivamente certas
13:11
about a domain whose existence is subjective,
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3430
sobre un campo cuxa
existencia é subxectiva,
13:15
whose existence is in the human brain
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3235
cuxa existencia reside no cerebro humano
e consiste en estados
subxectivos de sentimento,
13:18
consisting of subjective states of sentience
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2139
13:20
or feeling or awareness.
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1685
de sensación ou de alerta.
13:22
So the objection that you can't have an objective science of consciousness
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4337
Entón a obxección de que non se pode
ter unha ciencia obxectiva da consciencia
13:26
because it's subjective and science is objective, that's a pun.
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4208
porque é subxectiva e a ciencia
é obxectiva, é un xogo de palabras.
É só un xogo de palabras
sobre obxectividade e subxectividade.
13:30
That's a bad pun on objectivity and subjectivity.
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2709
13:33
You can make objective claims
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2324
Pódense facer afirmacións obxectivas
13:35
about a domain that is subjective in its mode of existence,
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4042
sobre un campo que é subxectivo
no seu modo de existir,
e de feito é o que fan os neurólogos.
13:39
and indeed that's what neurologists do.
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1573
13:41
I mean, you have patients that actually suffer pains,
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Hai pacientes que sofren dores reais,
13:43
and you try to get an objective science of that.
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e trátase de facer
unha ciencia obxectiva diso.
Vale, prometín refutar
todos estes individuos,
13:46
Okay, I promised to refute all these guys,
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2072
13:48
and I don't have an awful lot of time left,
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1575
e non me queda moito tempo,
13:50
but let me refute a couple more of them.
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1908
mais deixádeme refutar un par deles máis.
13:52
I said that behaviorism ought to be
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2235
Dixen que o condutismo debía ser
13:54
one of the great embarrassments of our intellectual culture,
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unha das vergoñas máis grandes
da nosa cultura intelectual,
13:57
because it's refuted the moment you think about it.
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2893
porque é refutado no momento
en que pensas nel.
14:00
Your mental states are identical with your behavior?
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Os teus estados mentais son idénticos
ao teu comportamento?
14:03
Well, think about the distinction between feeling a pain
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3151
Pensade na distinción
entre sentir unha dor
14:06
and engaging in pain behavior.
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1703
e unha conduta de dor.
Non vou demostrar a conduta
de dor, pero pódovos dicir
14:08
I won't demonstrate pain behavior, but I can tell you
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1988
14:10
I'm not having any pains right now.
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1839
que agora non estou a ter ningunha dor.
14:12
So it's an obvious mistake. Why did they make the mistake?
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Así que é un erro obvio.
Por que o cometeron?
14:16
The mistake was — and you can go back and read
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1884
O erro foi —e podedes ir e ler
14:18
the literature on this, you can see this over and over —
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o que hai escrito sobre isto,
podédelo ver unha e outra vez—
14:20
they think if you accept the irreducible existence
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pensar que se aceptamos
a existencia irredutíbel
14:24
of consciousness, you're giving up on science.
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2795
da consciencia, estamos
renunciando á ciencia,
14:27
You're giving up on 300 years of human progress
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3071
estamos renunciando a 300 anos de progreso
14:30
and human hope and all the rest of it.
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e esperanza humanos e todo o demais.
14:32
And the message I want to leave you with is,
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E a mensaxe que quero deixarvos
14:35
consciousness has to become accepted
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2443
é que a consciencia ten que ser aceptada
14:37
as a genuine biological phenomenon,
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como un fenómeno biolóxico xenuíno,
14:40
as much subject to scientific analysis
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tan suxeito á análise científica
14:42
as any other phenomenon in biology,
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1960
como calquera outro fenómeno biolóxico,
14:44
or, for that matter, the rest of science.
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2154
ou, por tanto, coma o resto da ciencia.
14:46
Thank you very much.
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Moitas grazas.
14:48
(Applause)
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5493
(Aplausos)

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Searle - Philosopher
John Searle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself.

Why you should listen

American philosopher John Serle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself. In his early work, he focused on the nature of language and what we are conveying when we speak and how the intention behind what we intend to say can the meaning of words from context to context.

He is best known for his “Chinese Room” thought experiment, which challenges the notion of a truly intelligent artificial intelligence. In it, he imagines a room containing an individual, who speaks only English, working with a set of English instructions to write a series of Chinese characters in order to anonymous communicate with a Chinese speaker outside the room. If that individual follows the instructions carefully, she can effectively fool the Chinese speaker into thinking he’s talking to someone who understands his language. Serle argues that, at the very least, the metaphor raises deep complications as to whether or not one can truly describe convincing simulations of intelligence as intelligent.

He remains of firm believer that subjective experiences are real -- even if they don’t always describe things are they really are -- and are worth thinking about in objective terms because of it.

More profile about the speaker
John Searle | Speaker | TED.com