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What is it like to be ...? - Mary the colour scientist

Q: Explain ‘Wow, I’ve never realised red would look like that!’

1982 – Frank Jackson . He invented this argument, because physical facts about the world are not all there is to know

Q: Explain ‘Yes, I knew red would be just like that.’

1985 – Christopher Maloney . He has a test: choose a colour and give Mary a detailed description of the state associated with seeing that colour. If she really understands all there is to know about colour, she must be able to imagine what shade the colour would be. Then expose her to a colour sample and let her select the colour she imagined.

Q: Who invented the ‘standard Mark 19 robot’ and what is it?

Dennett This robot (RoboMary) has hardware equipped for colour vision, but with black-and-white cameras. She learns all the physical info about colour vision. This shows that it leaves no space over for RoboMary to be surprised.

5 important questions on What is it like to be ...? - Mary the colour scientist

What is Mary, the colour scientist?

Mary is a scientist who live far in the future. She knows everything there is to know about colour perception, optics of the eye, properties of coloured objects and the processing of colour information. But she has never seen any colours at all, she lives in a black-and-white room. One day, she is let out of her room and sees colours for the first time. How will she react?

Wow, I’ve never realised red would look like that!
Yes, I knew red would be just like that.

Explain ‘Wow, I’ve never realised red would look like that!’

1982 – Frank Jackson.

He invented this argument, because physical facts about the world are not all there is to know

Explain ‘Yes, I knew red would be just like that.’

1985 – Christopher Maloney.

He has a test: choose a colour and give Mary a detailed description of the state associated with seeing that colour. If she really understands all there is to know about colour, she must be able to imagine what shade the colour would be. Then expose her to a colour sample and let her select the colour she imagined.

What is Dennett’s vision on the thought experiment?

He thinks its not good. He gives an alternative ending:
Mary will be released and would be presented a blue banana. She says: you tried to trick me, bananas are yellow. She goes on to explain that because she knew everything about colour.

When we assume that Mary will be surprised, we’ve not followed the instructions. Because it is really hard to imagine knowing absolutely everything about anything.

Who invented the ‘standard Mark 19 robot’ and what is it?

Dennett

This robot (RoboMary) has hardware equipped for colour vision, but with black-and-white cameras. She learns all the physical info about colour vision. This shows that it leaves no space over for RoboMary to be surprised.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Consciousness An Introduction | 9781317625865 | Susan Blackmore, et al

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