When computer processes external signals it needs to somehow represent the signal to themselves, it doesnt matter what the particular representation is, it just matters that it is and is consistent. For example it doesnt matter if computer represents lack of light as 1 and presence of light as 0 or the other way around it just matters that there is a representation and computer can recognize what 0 and 1 means. I think that is qualia, a particular way our brain represents external signals in its calculations and thats why it cant be explained to someone else because its something arbitrarly assumed in our brains
But that representation by the computer can be conveyed in quantitative terms. We can look at the code it runs on and the circuitry that executes that code and see that the presence of light is represented by a 0. That is a quantitative description, not a qualitative one. It's not analogous to a subjective experience.
In the human brain we'd be looking at which group of neurons in the visual cortex fire when the optic nerve sends in a signal from a cone cell struck by a red photon. That is the physical representation analogous to the 0 in the computer.
Knowing that brings us no closer to feeling for ourselves the sensation of red. By definition, a qualia is something that can't be quantitatively described, so it isn't something that can be represented within the structure of the brain.
I think its a quantitive description for us because we precisely know how a computer functions but from the perspective of a computer it is qualitative since it just knows what the 0 and 1 mean but doesnt know how it knows this.
Similarly for us we dont know how we know what red means, we just know, and also similarly since we understand how computers function we can quantitatively describe 0 and 1 once we precisely understand how human brains function we will be able to quantitatively describe red
When computer processes external signals it needs to somehow represent the signal to themselves, it doesnt matter what the particular representation is, it just matters that it is and is consistent. For example it doesnt matter if computer represents lack of light as 1 and presence of light as 0 or the other way around it just matters that there is a representation and computer can recognize what 0 and 1 means. I think that is qualia, a particular way our brain represents external signals in its calculations and thats why it cant be explained to someone else because its something arbitrarly assumed in our brains
But that representation by the computer can be conveyed in quantitative terms. We can look at the code it runs on and the circuitry that executes that code and see that the presence of light is represented by a 0. That is a quantitative description, not a qualitative one. It's not analogous to a subjective experience.
In the human brain we'd be looking at which group of neurons in the visual cortex fire when the optic nerve sends in a signal from a cone cell struck by a red photon. That is the physical representation analogous to the 0 in the computer.
Knowing that brings us no closer to feeling for ourselves the sensation of red. By definition, a qualia is something that can't be quantitatively described, so it isn't something that can be represented within the structure of the brain.
I think its a quantitive description for us because we precisely know how a computer functions but from the perspective of a computer it is qualitative since it just knows what the 0 and 1 mean but doesnt know how it knows this. Similarly for us we dont know how we know what red means, we just know, and also similarly since we understand how computers function we can quantitatively describe 0 and 1 once we precisely understand how human brains function we will be able to quantitatively describe red