> If you write off consciousness as illusory, don't you have to write off suffering as illusory? Just because it’s illusory doesn’t mean you can or should writ

> If you write off consciousness as illusory, don't you have to write off suffering as illusory? Just because it’s illusory doesn’t mean you can or should write it off. Illusion is not a synonym for unimportant, so please do not put those words in my mouth. I certainly don't "write off" the suffering of living beings in any way. We are entitled to care, and in fact justified in caring, about these illusions. > Saying there's nothing of interest to explain I didn't say that. You are again putting words in my mouth. This isn’t a healthy form of discourse. > We have various avenues of introspection into consciousness Externally, sure. But if it’s external then it doesn’t qualify as introspection from my understanding of the word. I don’t like semantic disagreements so I apologise for not being clearer. > Do you think greater introspection abilities would cause consciousness to dissolve away? Taking your question as charitably as possible, the answer is yes, I think that is likely. I believe that if we had greater powers of introspection, the illusion would be shattered. Our lack of introspection seems essential for the illusion to work, at least it seems to me. Similarly and alternatively: I could imagine a hypothetical future where we create an artificial intelligence that does everything a human brain does, including an equally effective illusion of consciousness, but be unable to validate the instantiation of the illusion. > the question is Why is there consciousness. I don’t agree: that formulation of words can’t be answered without begging the question. A better question is “why do humans seem to agree that we have this sensation of self awareness?” This whole subject reminds me of the famous quote by Arthur C. Clarke — ” Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”