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From a scientific standpoint it seems easier to reject "knowing with certainty" than to accept that there must be consciousness. Not to say that the scientific

• JohnFen 3y ago
  From a scientific standpoint, we know that consciousness exists, because we experience it. From an equally scientific standpoint, we don't really know what it is objectively and so we can't say with certainty that it exists anywhere outside of ourselves. Obviously, the odds are extraordinarily high that it does exist in entities outside ourselves, but it's not a scientifically "proven" thing yet. It's just a very reasonable assumption that is taken as an axiom. > before giving up Who's giving up, and giving up on what?
  • smokel 3y ago
    Experiencing something does not necessarily imply that it exists, at least from a scientific standpoint. Experiencing God, or qualia such as colors are just some examples of things that some people reject the existence of. Perhaps I should be more precise in the definitions of "experience", "consciousness", and "existence", but I hope that you catch my drift. I agree that it's highly likely that other animals experience consciousness in a similar way as we do. I'm not so sure about plants or LLMs, though. And I find it highly unlikely that protons or rocks have consciousness. About the giving up, I was referring to the panpsychists who gave up on explaining consciousness from a materialist or naturalist perspective.