[georgeecollins]

>> If we replaced every neuron in your brain, one by one, with a silicon equivalent, would you stop being conscious?

If we put your brain in a jar, would you be a person? Would you have normal consciousness? Honestly I don't know and I am not the person to ask.

But the brain is just a computer metaphor has flaws, particularly when you take account how poorly the brain is understood.

[StevenWaterman]

Yeah absolutely, I have no objections to you looking at my thought experiments and saying "No, if you replaced every neuron with silicon I would stop being conscious". That's a totally valid conclusion and is a mainstream philosophical position. That's why they're thought experiments.

My issue was more just that people see the concept of a thinking machine and immediately reject it because it sounds silly, without thinking about it.

[My_Name]

It has been claimed in the past that computers would never think "because they are made of matter"

It was a serious statement at the time it was made, but it is clearly ludicrous. Like the universe created special states for arranging energy in just to make the human brain from.

[My_Name]

>>If we put your brain in a jar, would you be a person?

This is very close to the question : Would you still be a person if your arms and legs were amputated, and you could not communicate.

I would hope you would see that the answer is : Of course you would be