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> Or you could just ask them. I can easily make a computer program which, when asked "Are you conscious?", will reply with "Yes", but that doesn't mean that it
by adwn 7y ago
> Or you could just ask them.
I can easily make a computer program which, when asked "Are you conscious?", will reply with "Yes", but that doesn't mean that it is conscious. Conversely, you can ask someone who doesn't speak English, "Are you conscious?", and they will only stare at you confusedly, but that doesn't mean that they're not conscious.
Therefore, "just asking" is not a reliable method at all to find out whether an entity is conscious.
- mantap 7y agoHow could another human being be not-conscious while displaying all the signs of consciousness? Maybe I have a failure of imagination but if ask my mother "are you conscious?" and she says "yes" then that's pretty conclusive evidence to me. This is actually such a dumb thread I think I'm going to stop now.
- Buttons840 7y agoIt's not dumb, it's philosophy. Philosophy is applying logic to thought. We cannot physically interact with "consciousness", so instead we think about it, put forth ideas, and logically scrutinize those ideas. If the answer to the question "are you concious?" is conclusive evidence, then evidently not all people are concious, because some will answer "no" to that question. Would you agree with this logic - this if-then statement?
- rebuilder 7y agoI am not conscious. Prove me wrong.
- dwaltrip 7y agoIf you are human, you are conscious. Consciousness is to humans in the same way breathing is to humans. There are many other arguments that I'm sure you are aware of. If all of these aren't enough for you, well then, I would direct you towards exploring solipsism.
- rebuilder 7y agoI don't see the relevance of solipsism here. I'm taking essentially the opposite position: I am not conscious. You seem to think I am conscious. How can you tell the difference?
- dwaltrip 7y agoIf you genuinely don't think you are conscious, then I have nothing to say. If you are making a roundabout point of how we can't know if other people are conscious, then my argument about solipsism stands.
- Buttons840 7y agoHe's saying that personal assertions are not a good basis for believing that a person is concious. He's saying it in a sarcastic way.
- dwaltrip 7y agoI wasn't basing anything on personal assertions. I guess we were arguing past each other.