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You probably couldn't use this definition even if you had a magical device which transforms you into a bat and then back again. After you are yourself again yo
by red75prime 9y ago
You probably couldn't use this definition even if you had a magical device which transforms you into a bat and then back again.
After you are yourself again you'll need to interpret the acquired memories. You remember echolocview of the room (bats have memory, it's testable), hunger, disorientation and some other sensations. Does it mean that bat is conscious? What will you remember differently if bat wasn't conscious? You'll remember nothing? But memories are there and you should have access to them. The lack of self-awareness? But you don't know how you would remember the presence of self-awareness in a bat.
- msarchet 9y agoI think you could still use the definition. Because your still conscious, your just something that is aware of its ability to change shape and maintain its awareness through that change. Nothing is really static in life. So nothing ever really is always just a thing, it was one thing, now it's a slightly different thing.
- PinkMilkshake 9y agoBut the definition isn’t if it is like something for a human to be a bat. Human experience doesn’t really come into it. It is like something to be a human. But the conscious experience of a bat (if it exists) may be completely alien to us in every way. That’s not relevant to what it is to be like a bat. The only important thing is if it is like something to be a bat.
- red75prime 9y agoWhat's good in a definition you have no conceivable way of applying? How would you go about testing whether a bat is conscious according to this definition? It is based on our illusion of understanding what it is like to be a human, but upon closer inspection it bears no real content.