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A state doesn't have an independent sense of identity that is apart from the pieces that make it up. That is, it doesn't experience consciousness (as far as we
by liberte82 9y ago
A state doesn't have an independent sense of identity that is apart from the pieces that make it up. That is, it doesn't experience consciousness (as far as we know).
If humans didn't have egos, identities and a sense of "I" and were merely sensory machines, then maybe there could be an equivalence.
That is, if ego and identity are the same thing as consciousness. I'm not sure they are. Frankly, it's a mystery to me, as I think it is to everyone, except for perhaps a few enlightened Buddhist monks.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y agoIn other words, you have absolutely no idea if a state experiences "consciousness" in the philosophical sense, so instead have claimed that it doesn't simply because it is too different from you to receive the benefit of the doubt, even though you recognize that such an assertion is impossible within an empirical framework.
- liberte82 9y agoSure... but it's just as impossible to make a claim that it does.
- dpark 9y agoExcept that it's not. The assertion made was that any empirical definition of consciousness that applies to humans would likewise apply to states. This is a straightforward claim. If you dispute this claim then all you need to do is provide an empirical definition of consciousness that applies to humans but not states. I will note that defining "consciousness" as something like "the human experience" is vacuous and doesn't count.