It’s not clear to me why whether a system is composed of continuous functions or digital approximations of continuous functions would be a deciding factor between whether said system is conscious or not. In fact, there is empirical evidence that digital approximations of continuous functions can be part of conscious systems.
People currently have digital functions as part of their brains (brain controlled robot arms, cochlear implants, retinal prostheses). In the case of brain controlled arms, some arms are well integrated into the conscious self. For example, Nathan Copeland’s robot arm is incorporated into his proprioceptive map via force feedback and position sensors. It has been experimentally confirmed that he can sense the arm’s position without visual contact and he describes this sense as proprioceptive.
Additionally, computers can be composed of substantially analog functions (e.g. systems made from analog electrical components—these are just as analog as neurons, although both systems deal in electric charge which is quantized).
It’s not clear to me why whether a system is composed of continuous functions or digital approximations of continuous functions would be a deciding factor between whether said system is conscious or not. In fact, there is empirical evidence that digital approximations of continuous functions can be part of conscious systems.
People currently have digital functions as part of their brains (brain controlled robot arms, cochlear implants, retinal prostheses). In the case of brain controlled arms, some arms are well integrated into the conscious self. For example, Nathan Copeland’s robot arm is incorporated into his proprioceptive map via force feedback and position sensors. It has been experimentally confirmed that he can sense the arm’s position without visual contact and he describes this sense as proprioceptive.
Additionally, computers can be composed of substantially analog functions (e.g. systems made from analog electrical components—these are just as analog as neurons, although both systems deal in electric charge which is quantized).