China brain

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The China brain is a thought experiment where the entire population of China links arms and are each told to simulate a neuron within a brain. The thought experiment posits that if a billion people (there is nothing special about China, apart from the imagery of a country with an unusually large population) could simulate working neurons, this would lead to a working brain. The experiment further posits that this entity would therefore possess some form of consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, as consciousness should, without invoking dualism, be independent of the medium which it is made of and only on the patterns by which the medium can create. The "China brain" could then, in principle, be asked questions; have a personality; and, perhaps, could die if the experiment was ended.

It is often invoked to cause some discomfort when talking about artificial intelligence or consciousness. If people are able to accept that neurons can combine to form a conscious entity (which they must, because we "know" that we are conscious by definition) then why not something else? This can apply equally to a computer, such as in singularity research where computers simulate human brains within them, or to more odd objects such as people.

[edit] See also

  • Chinese room: A related thought experiment reaching an antagonistic conclusion. Philosophers have a thing about China, it seems.
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