A Dramatized Question

Science fiction dramatizes philosophical questions. "...dramatizes..." is metaphorical like saying that a writer "paints a picture of" something. The three story-telling media are narrative, drama and sequential art. Most sf, including the works of Poul Anderson to which I refer, is prose narrative. Spoken narrative metamorphosed into drama by the addition of extra speakers, then of actions, and can, in any case, be described as "dramatic." We have discussed how to film several of Anderson's works.

Philosophers ask questions about the nature of consciousness. Sf writers, including Anderson in several works, imagine technologically generated consciousness. Clearly the questions are relevant to the fiction which might influence the questions. If rational self-consciousness requires an immaterial soul, then how can technology generate that? On the other hand, organisms that are both rational and self-conscious are already generated by material, specifically biological, processes. Does a human conception somehow attract a (reincarnated or newly created?) soul and is the latter necessary for reason and self-consciousness?

Quantum processes within an artificial intelligence might generate consciousness. Neuronic interactions inside organic brains do generate consciousness. Occam's razor suggests that, in these cases, the consciousness is dependent on either the quantum processes or the neuronic interactions and will cease when they do. In neither case is there any reason to postulate an immaterial entity as the subject of consciousness.

A brain, of course, is not just a complicated lump of matter. It coordinates the central nervous system of an organism interacting with its environment. If we remove the environment, the organism, the brain, the neurons, their interactions and the RNA molecules that carry memory, then what is left of consciousness? If we burn a hand-written journal, then what is left of the journal's contents? If we remove the four sides of a square, then what is left of the square?