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Curious: why do you say pansychism is absurd? Red colour is something which has sort of become a canonical example of subjective experience. Nothing special ab

Curious: why do you say pansychism is absurd? Red colour is something which has sort of become a canonical example of subjective experience. Nothing special about it - could have been blue :)

lisper 8y ago
Because it's just obvious that consciousness and subjective experience are not properties of matter, they are properties of very particular arrangements of matter. A CPU is made of the same stuff as beach sand, but a CPU can compute and beach sand can't. Or take your laptop (or your brain) and hit is with a sledge hammer. All of the atoms that were there before this procedure are still there after. Do you really want to argue that nothing essential is lost in this process?
- kamaal 8y ago
  That means this has more to with ability to communicate/signal your consciousness. For example if a rock is conscious, how would it inform us that it is? Without the ability to communicate, consciousness means nothing at all. Then of course communicate how? Hand signals, hand writing or voice are equally mystical forms of communication given that these are waves(light and sound). That's already Telepathy category. We just don't feel it as magical because every one can do it. I'd imagine for a humanoid species without ears or even a idea that something like sound wave would exist, talking would be synonymous with Telepathy.
  - lisper 8y ago
    > That means this has more to with ability to communicate/signal your consciousness. Communication is the only data you have to support the theory that there are conscious beings other than yourself. Hypothesizing a conscious being that can't communicate at all (not to be confused with the temporary inability to communicate brought on by sleep or locked-in syndrome) is like hypothesizing an invisible leprechaun living in your pantry.
    - kamaal 8y ago
      Then the real problem is how do we communicate with a rock?
      - lisper 8y ago
        That's right. I think you should start working on solving that right away.

Curious: why do you say pansychism is absurd? Red colour is something which has sort of become a canonical example of subjective experience. Nothing special about it - could have been blue :)

lisper 8y ago

Because it's just obvious that consciousness and subjective experience are not properties of matter, they are properties of very particular arrangements of matter. A CPU is made of the same stuff as beach sand, but a CPU can compute and beach sand can't. Or take your laptop (or your brain) and hit is with a sledge hammer. All of the atoms that were there before this procedure are still there after. Do you really want to argue that nothing essential is lost in this process?

kamaal 8y ago
That means this has more to with ability to communicate/signal your consciousness. For example if a rock is conscious, how would it inform us that it is? Without the ability to communicate, consciousness means nothing at all. Then of course communicate how? Hand signals, hand writing or voice are equally mystical forms of communication given that these are waves(light and sound). That's already Telepathy category. We just don't feel it as magical because every one can do it. I'd imagine for a humanoid species without ears or even a idea that something like sound wave would exist, talking would be synonymous with Telepathy.
- lisper 8y ago
  > That means this has more to with ability to communicate/signal your consciousness. Communication is the only data you have to support the theory that there are conscious beings other than yourself. Hypothesizing a conscious being that can't communicate at all (not to be confused with the temporary inability to communicate brought on by sleep or locked-in syndrome) is like hypothesizing an invisible leprechaun living in your pantry.
  - kamaal 8y ago
    Then the real problem is how do we communicate with a rock?
    - lisper 8y ago
      That's right. I think you should start working on solving that right away.