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> I'm not sure if there is definition of consciousness everyone agree on, but let's try something: consciousness is the ability to perceive our own thoughts. S

by HKH2 4y ago

> I'm not sure if there is definition of consciousness everyone agree on, but let's try something: consciousness is the ability to perceive our own thoughts. Since you seem to be treating 'thought' metaphorically, how about we say that consciousness is the ability to perceive our own feelings? Are there beings that are conscious that do not have any feelings at all?

joak 4y ago
By thought I meant "process happening the brain". It is not metaphorical, it's a very concrete physical process. A perception is a particular thought originated directly from a physical phenomenon (eg. pressure on the skin, light on the retina, ...). So when we are conscious we can perceive our perceptions, our "feelings", and any kind of thoughts. We can for sure perceive our own consciousness, we are conscious of being conscious. In the same way the current ps process is in the list of active processes obtained running ps. Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious.
- HKH2 4y ago
  > By thought I meant "process happening the brain". It is not metaphorical, it's a very concrete physical process. > The perception of own thoughts is not something difficult for a computer. Just check the activity monitor or run the ps command. It's not hard for a computer to reference itself, sure, but it perceiving its own thoughts is something else. > Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious. I probably should've said emotions. Emotions are more low-level than thoughts. I think that infants can be conscious without thinking at all, so I don't think that thinking is necessary at all for consciousness, yet it probably does color our understanding of what consciousness is.

by HKH2 4y ago

joak 4y ago

By thought I meant "process happening the brain". It is not metaphorical, it's a very concrete physical process. A perception is a particular thought originated directly from a physical phenomenon (eg. pressure on the skin, light on the retina, ...). So when we are conscious we can perceive our perceptions, our "feelings", and any kind of thoughts. We can for sure perceive our own consciousness, we are conscious of being conscious. In the same way the current ps process is in the list of active processes obtained running ps. Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious.

HKH2 4y ago
> By thought I meant "process happening the brain". It is not metaphorical, it's a very concrete physical process. > The perception of own thoughts is not something difficult for a computer. Just check the activity monitor or run the ps command. It's not hard for a computer to reference itself, sure, but it perceiving its own thoughts is something else. > Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious. I probably should've said emotions. Emotions are more low-level than thoughts. I think that infants can be conscious without thinking at all, so I don't think that thinking is necessary at all for consciousness, yet it probably does color our understanding of what consciousness is.