Mary's Room: A philosophical thought experiment - Eleanor Nelsen

Translator: Alba Paz Castro Reviewer: traduceTED USC

Imagine a brilliant neuroscientist named Mary.

Imaxina unha neurocientífica brillante que se chama Mary.

María vive nun cuarto branco e negro,

Mary lives in a black and white room,

she only reads black and white books,

só le libros brancos e negros

and her screens only display black and white.

e nas súas pantallas só se ve en branco e negro.

But even though she has never seen color, Mary is an expert in color vision

Mais aínda que nunca vise as cores, Mary é unha experta na visión en cor

e sabe todo o que se descubriu sobre a súa física e bioloxía.

and knows everything ever discovered about its physics and biology.

She knows how different wavelengths of light

Sabe como as diferentes lonxitudes de onda da luz

stimulate three types of cone cells in the retina,

estimulan tres tipos de células cono na retina

and she knows how electrical signals

e sabe como os sinais eléctricos

travel down the optic nerve into the brain.

viaxan polo nervio óptico ata o cerebro.

There, they create patterns of neural activity

Alí, crean padróns de actividade neuronal

that correspond to the millions of colors most humans can distinguish.

que se corresponden cos millóns de cores que a maioría de humanos poden distinguir.

Now imagine that one day,

Agora imaxina que, un día,

a pantalla branca e negra de Mary falla

Mary's black and white screen malfunctions

and an apple appears in color.

e aparece unha mazá en cor.

For the first time,

Por primeira vez,

she can experience something that she's known about for years.

pode experimentar algo que sabe dende hai anos.

Does she learn anything new?

Aprendería algo novo?

Hai algo sobre a percepción da cor que non coñeza xa?

Is there anything about perceiving color that wasn't captured in all her knowledge?

Philosopher Frank Jackson proposed this thought experiment,

O filósofo Frank Jackson propuxo este experimento mental,

called Mary's room, in 1982.

chamado o cuarto de Mary, en 1982.

El afirmaba que, se Mary xa coñecía todos os feitos físicos da visión a cor

He argued that if Mary already knew all the physical facts about color vision,

and experiencing color still teaches her something new,

e experimentar a cor lle ensinaba algo novo,

then mental states, like color perception,

logo os estados mentais, como a percepción da cor,

can't be completely described by physical facts.

non se poderían describir por completo polos feitos físicos.

The Mary's room thought experiment

O experimento do cuarto de Mary

describes what philosophers call the knowledge argument,

describe o que os filósofos chaman o argumento do coñecemento,

that there are non-physical properties and knowledge

que existen propiedades non físicas e coñecemento

which can only be discovered through conscious experience.

que só se descobren coa experiencia consciente.

The knowledge argument contradicts the theory of physicalism,

O argumento do coñecemento contradí a teoría do fisicalismo,

que di que todo, incluso os estados mentais,

which says that everything, including mental states,

has a physical explanation.

ten unha explicación física.

To most people hearing Mary's story,

Á maioría dos que oen a historia de Mary

it seems intuitively obvious that actually seeing color

parécelles obvio que ver a cor

will be totally different than learning about it.

é totalmente diferente a aprender sobre ela e,

polo tanto, debe haber algunha calidade da visión a cor

Therefore, there must be some quality of color vision

that transcends its physical description.

que transcenda á súa descrición física.

The knowledge argument isn't just about color vision.

O argumento do coñecemento non é só sobre a visión a cor.

Mary's room uses color vision to represent conscious experience.

O cuarto de Mary usa a visión a cor para representar a experiencia consciente.

If physical science can't entirely explain color vision,

Se a ciencia física non pode explicar todo sobre a visión a cor,

then maybe it can't entirely explain other conscious experiences either.

quizais tampouco poida explicar de todo outras experiencias conscientes.

For instance, we could know every physical detail

Por exemplo, poderiamos saber cada detalle físico

about the structure and function of someone else's brain,

sobre a estrutura e a función cerebral de alguén,

but still not understand what it feels like to be that person.

pero seguir sen entender o que se sente ao ser esa persoa.

These ineffable experiences have properties called qualia,

Estas experiencias inefables teñen propiedades chamadas qualia,

subjective qualities that you can't accurately describe or measure.

calidades subxectivas que non se poden describir nin medir con precisión.

Qualia are unique to the person experiencing them,

Os qualia son únicos para quen os experimenta,

like having an itch,

como sentir algún proído,

being in love,

namorar

or feeling bored.

ou aburrirse.

Physical facts can't completely explain mental states like this.

Os feitos físicos non poden explicar estes estados mentais.

Philosophers interested in artificial intelligence

Os filósofos interesados na intelixencia artificial

have used the knowledge argument

usaron o argumento do coñecemento

to theorize that recreating a physical state

para teorizar que recrear un estado físico

won't necessarily recreate a corresponding mental state.

non necesariamente recreará o estado mental correspondente.

In other words,

Noutras palabras,

building a computer which mimicked the function of every single neuron

construír un computador que imite a función de cada neurona

of the human brain

do cerebro humano

won't necessarily create a conscious computerized brain.

non necesariamente crearía un cerebro consciente computarizado.

Not all philosophers agree that the Mary's room experiment is useful.

Non todos os filósofos están de acordo con que este experimento sexa útil.

Some argue that her extensive knowledge of color vision

Algúns din que o seu amplo coñecemento da visión a cor

would have allowed her to create the same mental state

permitiríalle crear o mesmo estado mental

produced by actually seeing the color.

que se produce ao ver a cor.

The screen malfunction wouldn't show her anything new.

O fallo da pantalla non lle mostraría nada novo.

Others say that her knowledge was never complete in the first place

Outros din que o seu coñecemento nunca foi completo

because it was based only on those physical facts

porque está baseado só nos feitos físicos

that can be conveyed in words.

que poden transmitirse con palabras.

Years after he proposed it,

Anos despois de propoñelo,

Jackson mudou a súa postura sobre o seu experimento mental.

Jackson actually reversed his own stance on his thought experiment.

He decided that even Mary's experience of seeing red

Decidiu que mesmo a experiencia de Mary de ver o vermello

still does correspond to a measurable physical event in the brain,

se corresponde cun evento físico medible no cerebro,

not unknowable qualia beyond physical explanation.

non un qualia misterioso máis aló da explicación física.

But there still isn't a definitive answer

Porén, aínda non hai unha resposta definitiva

to the question of whether Mary would learn anything new

para a pregunta de se Mary aprendería algo novo

when she sees the apple.

ao ver a mazá.

Could it be that there are fundamental limits to what we can know

Será que hai límites fundamentais do que podemos saber

about something we can't experience?

sobre algo que non podemos experimentar?

And would this mean there are certain aspects of the universe

Significaría isto que hai certos aspectos do universo

that lie permanently beyond our comprehension?

que estarán sempre máis aló da nosa comprensión?

Or will science and philosophy allow us to overcome our mind's limitations?

Ou permitirannos a ciencia e a filosofía superar as limitacións da nosa mente?