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Thanks. I have exact same thought. Don't get me wrong, I think consciousness arising from sufficient complexity is also very much a possible answer, and I don

Thanks. I have exact same thought. Don't get me wrong, I think consciousness arising from sufficient complexity is also very much a possible answer, and I don't discount it. I'm just not totally convinced that there isn't more too it. Until a general AI arises, I don't think I will be convinced, and even if it did, who's to say it inst still just an approximation? Multiple AI intelligence domains slapped together with some approximation of a pre-frontal cortex. Even then, biology may still be something entirely different. Sure, you start venturing into the supernatural realm talking about this, but who's to say that given sufficient time and study of this phenomena, the supposed "consciousness is everywhere" becomes the new natural science, and gives rise to new technologies we couldn't even conceive. It would be like discovering Electromagnetism all over again.

caf 9y ago
What if there's less to it? What if consciousness is just an illusion, "you" only really exist in the moment, and the feeling of a connection to the "you" of a moment ago and the "you" to come in the next moment doesn't reflect an actual continuing independent existence?
- drcode 9y ago
  Yeah, this seems likely to be true, and also arguably really sad, since it means your consciousness essentially is "dying" every second. Fun times!
  - CalRobert 9y ago
    Well, on the other hand, we are able to create joy and the rich array of emotions we feel through those moments, and against the scale of an eternal(well.... ish..) universe, creating joy for a future being is about all we have, whether that's an iteration of ourselves or someone else. Then again, the last time I checked we don't actually know if time is quantized or not, or if that's even a meaningful question. A slightly modified version of this idea is explored in https://existentialcomics.com/comic/1 https://existentialcomics.com/comic/1

caf 9y ago

What if there's less to it? What if consciousness is just an illusion, "you" only really exist in the moment, and the feeling of a connection to the "you" of a moment ago and the "you" to come in the next moment doesn't reflect an actual continuing independent existence?

drcode 9y ago
Yeah, this seems likely to be true, and also arguably really sad, since it means your consciousness essentially is "dying" every second. Fun times!
- CalRobert 9y ago
  Well, on the other hand, we are able to create joy and the rich array of emotions we feel through those moments, and against the scale of an eternal(well.... ish..) universe, creating joy for a future being is about all we have, whether that's an iteration of ourselves or someone else. Then again, the last time I checked we don't actually know if time is quantized or not, or if that's even a meaningful question. A slightly modified version of this idea is explored in https://existentialcomics.com/comic/1 https://existentialcomics.com/comic/1