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Single Idea 3470

[from 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' by John Searle, in 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness ]

Full Idea

Apparently it is just a fact of biology that organisms that have consciousness have, in general, much greater powers of discrimination than those that do not.

Gist of Idea

Conscious creatures seem able to discriminate better

Source

John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 4.III)

Book Reference

Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.108


A Reaction

This presupposes knowledge of which creatures are conscious. Clearly colour vision gives more information than monochrome vision. But presumably a computer could process more visual information than I could see. It doesn't have a fovea centralis.