4 ms·
Because there are a lot of scientific wackos that are trying to push it to mainstream without any proof, see e.g. PhDs in congnitive neuroscience with focus on
by bitL 7y ago
Because there are a lot of scientific wackos that are trying to push it to mainstream without any proof, see e.g. PhDs in congnitive neuroscience with focus on art and whole conferences organized around such ideas. It looks like some New Age cult inside science. Whether it's true or not, there is no methodology how to measure it, putting it outside scientific domain. It's on the level of simulation hypothesis. The rationale is that consciousness as a quality exists and is present in universe, so there must be some mechanisms for consciousness to emerge - if it is another layer or whatever on top of universe we have no clue. But most proponents of the theory sound like cultists.
- hosh 7y agoThere's an assumption that consciousness must be a result of emergent properties. I am not sure something like that has been definitively proven. I think there will never be a proof of consciousness that will satisfy the standards set by scientific experimentation.
- bitL 7y agoOK, my use of "emergent" is not appropriate either, it's just difficult to say anything as I have no clue what is behind it, if it is emergent, if it is an inherent property of universe, if it is outside universe in some "machine" or superbeing or whatever. Those are great sci-fi and philosophical topics, not sure about science itself as we know it right now though.
- hosh 7y agoJust saying, what if it is the scientific method itself is what limits what we can explore with consciousness? There is also an underlying assumption that the scientific method can explain everything ... ... it is a far cry from the early scientists who considered Nature as an intelligence one has to trick or seduce into giving up its secrets through the scientific method. That to hold an objective or skeptical stance was to pretend that there is such a thing as absolute objectivity. These days, the modern stance is the default, not the radical stance.
- TuringTest 7y agoOrson Scott Card's sequels to Ender's Game explored the idea that consciousness is defined by an elementary particle, and emergent properties merely define the experiences that such consciousness has.
- jjmorrison 7y agoSo it's a fear that if we explore things that might not be true, we'll all accidentally believe it? For all our flaws, I think humanity deserves more credit than that :)