Subject: Artificial Memories
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@BUFFALO.EDU>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:22:06 -0500

A recent article in the NY Times Science Times, although not directly
relevant to computational consciousness, is nonetheless of interest
and does raise some interesting questions:

Wade, Nicholas (2009, October 20), "Researchers Create Artificial
Memories in the Brain of a Fruitfly", NY Times Science Times: D3
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/20fly.html

In particular, consider this quote:

"In the human brain, dopamine signals pleasure and reward but in flies
it does the exact opposite: it is the messenger of fear and aversion."

Could that be interpreted as implying that humans and fruit flies have
inverted qualia--a human's pleasure is a fruitfly's fear?
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Subject:     Re: CSE 719: Artificial Memories
Date:     Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:38:48 -0500
From:     Anthony Ramnauth <anthonyr@buffalo.edu>

I'm not sure if it would be an inverted qualia. I seems more like the
same neural structures are performing different functions. It reminds me
of the girl with half a brain; portions of her brain literally rewired
itself to perform functions it normal doesn't perform. We could take
something like the concept of multiple realizability to assert that
differing behavioral functions could be performed by the same chemical
reactions e.g., dopamine. This is all the more plausable considering the
different wireing and structure of fly brains. Also, I noticed that the
quote takes an intentional stance toward the fly, presuming that it has
emotions, this is debatable. I for one doubt that you can take the
intentional stance for a fly. Everything can be explained thoroughly and
predictions can be made successfuly with a design stance. There's no
need to even consider an intentional stance for a fly; its actions just
aren't complex enough.
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Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: CSE 719: Artificial Memories]
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:21:33 -0500
From: dmauzyjr@buffalo.edu
...
My question  on this is whether or not dopamine in the human mind performs ONLY the one function, and although I am no biologist or neurologist I suspect it has
many different applications in the human brain. Even if all it's functions form some kind of loose association with pleasure, could it not be a case of differentiation due to complexity?
The system of a fruit Fly is less complex than ours by a large order, If the human fear response releases dopamine as well as adrenaline and other things into  the brain, in however small amounts, then can it be true inverted
qualia (assuming qualia in a fruit-fly at all), or did we merely develop a more complex set of drugs to deal with a broader range of responses?
On another thought, could the "fear" response be less a fear response and more a response to the pleasurable sensation of living, which is is conditioned to expect if it moves away?"

**slightly edited for understanding **