From Quantifying Vagueness To Pan-niftyism
arXiv Preprint Archive March 1, 2021 via arXiv
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA simple model for quantifying philosophical vagueness is introduced. The model's implications are discussed, including conditions under which quantifying a vague concept like 'nifty' leads to pan-nifty-ism. The key insight is that frameworks for quantifying consciousness, such as Integrated Information Theory, imply forms of panpsychism because favorable structure is already implicitly encoded in the construction of the quantification metric.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Cs.ai Measurement theory Pattern recognition |
| Key finding | Argues that the implication of panpsychism in frameworks like Integrated Information Theory arises from implicit structure in the quantification metric rather than from the nature of consciousness itself. |
Abstract
In this short paper, we will introduce a simple model for quantifying philosophical vagueness. There is growing interest in this endeavor to quantify vague concepts of consciousness, agency, etc. We will then discuss some of the implications of this model including the conditions under which the quantification of `nifty' leads to pan-nifty-ism. Understanding this leads to an interesting insight - the reason a framework to quantify consciousness like Integrated Information Theory implies (forms of) panpsychism is because there is favorable structure already implicitly encoded in the construction of the quantification metric.