It is borderline incomprehensible to me that this would be otherwise, given that there doesn't seem to be anything special about the neural hardware for it and animals respond in ways that appear pained when hurt.
2
Skipped question.
I need to know what the asker means by "conscious" here; it's a very slippery term and I don't feel comfortable assuming I know how to read it.
3 Skipped
I do not believe moral statements are truth-apt (non-cognitivism); I believe they express emotional states instead.
4
If you consider other living things to have utility functions. I place a very high aesthetic value on this but don't consider it a meaningful statement outside the context of subjective judgement.
5
See above, but get rid of the business of utility functions (I don't believe they apply to inanimate matter, and only in a weak sort of way to living things). Aesthetically, I place a lot of emphasis on it.
6
No. I believe that general intelligence can make a difference in one's performance, but that it is not the only way to produce high results and that it does not reliably screen for it.
7
No. This is due to cultural and social factors, not genetic ones.
8
I don't know.
9
No; this is due to cultural and social factors, and when those factors are compensate for the difference disappears.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-03 05:27 am (UTC)It is borderline incomprehensible to me that this would be otherwise, given that there doesn't seem to be anything special about the neural hardware for it and animals respond in ways that appear pained when hurt.
2
Skipped question.
I need to know what the asker means by "conscious" here; it's a very slippery term and I don't feel comfortable assuming I know how to read it.
3 Skipped
I do not believe moral statements are truth-apt (non-cognitivism); I believe they express emotional states instead.
4
If you consider other living things to have utility functions. I place a very high aesthetic value on this but don't consider it a meaningful statement outside the context of subjective judgement.
5
See above, but get rid of the business of utility functions (I don't believe they apply to inanimate matter, and only in a weak sort of way to living things). Aesthetically, I place a lot of emphasis on it.
6
No. I believe that general intelligence can make a difference in one's performance, but that it is not the only way to produce high results and that it does not reliably screen for it.
7
No. This is due to cultural and social factors, not genetic ones.
8
I don't know.
9
No; this is due to cultural and social factors, and when those factors are compensate for the difference disappears.
10
I don't know.