- cross-posted to:
- discuss
- cross-posted to:
- discuss
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Conversations about consciousness always wind me up because as soon as you ask them to define consciousness, nobody can come up with a measurable definition
It’s frustrating reading discussion about AI, because 90%+ of it is just people without any measurable definition of terms like “consciousness” or “intelligence” or “knowledge” talking past each other.
I actually think “consciousness” is easily definable as soon as you realize the question isn’t “Is X conscious?”, it’s “What is X conscious of?”, which in turn means “What is included in the world model of X?”.
That’s bcz we have no idea what consciousness actually is. The harder you try to define it the less certain you are likly to be.
I think, therefore I am.
Consciousness is what both observes and chooses. It’s discernment and will. Though measuring that objectively is obviously an issue.
If you dont know how to measure it, then you dont actually know what consciousness is.
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The subjective experience. The sequence of qualia which represents our internal state.
But that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t measure it. It may as well not exist. How can you tell something is having a subjective experience? How can you tell if something is experiencing “qualia”? You can’t.
Well, I know that at least one subjective experience exists, mine. The inability to measure it is precisely why it’s such a difficult topic.
Bah, souls are just a convient metaphor because…
- Like 80% of things with thumbs believe in them
- We haven’t really figured out the rest of how our meat works.
Best to just nod and agree with the group with the most pointy sticks until we figure this shit out.
Dennett: “Only a theory that explained conscious events in terms of unconscious events, could explain consciousness at all.”
I don’t think belief in an undetectable meta mind is needed to acknowledge that what we do matters.
Ideas do measurably travel. Works of writing and art, leave ripples across time, and even interact with eachhother.
We also have decent data that even small acts of kindness and decency can have compounding long term effects.
I’m sure my name won’t go down in history, and I don’t want to get bent out of shape the way I have seen people who care about being remembered get bent.
Instead, I choose to have faith that (results of) my acts of kindness will still be bouncing around out there, paying themselves forward, to bless even my own great-grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren of others. There’s so many people I can never repay for their kindnesses, but hopefully my own choices will bless people they cared about someday.
I think the patron saints of this odd belief of mine are Fred Rogers and Bob Ross. I defy anyone to seriously believe that the good those put into the world will fully stop propagating when they are forgotten. So many people are better people today because of their choices. Their “spirit” will continue to pay forward under other names.
It’s probably some kind of quantum superposition. How else can people hold onto the conflicting ideas so common amongst us humans?
