2 ms·

That is the philosophical can of worms. We can discuss it to death without ever reaching a conclusion. Personally, I define my consciousness barrier at the lev

That is the philosophical can of worms. We can discuss it to death without ever reaching a conclusion. Personally, I define my consciousness barrier at the level of Turing machine running any program that evolves. I also believe consciousness is not binary, it is a continuum. Is a dog a consciousness? Of course. Is a plant a form of consciousness? Yes, at a lower level. A bacteria or a virus? Yes. Sediment rocks? No. My hypothesis isn't testable. It is also probably wrong. I know that. I am, however, accompanied by any other hypothesis out there :)

RivieraKid 13y ago
> We can discuss it to death without ever reaching a conclusion. I can confirm, experienced this couple of times :) The way I define consciousness is very simple, it's my current feelings, thoughts and perceptions. It's also the only "thing" that I can be 100% sure about.
- sergiosgc 13y ago
  That is the "I think therefore I am" approach. Once, this approach led me to a fun conclusion: I think, therefore I am. However, I also observe what seem to be many consciousnesses. If I am the only provable consciousness, then I also am all the other consciousnesses. How can that be? By the Fermi paradox, I must be the first consciousness. If that is so, the most probable sequence of events is that I (my consciousness) appeared into the the void by pure randomness. Then I got bored, and created all this to pass the time. I am you, and I am every conscious being out there (so, that's why there is this "do unto others" golden rule!) This is kind of the unified theory of all religions, from mid-eastern origin all the way to Buddhism. Religion: solved. Now, on to the unified theory of physics.
  - RivieraKid 13y ago
    > I also observe what seem to be many consciousnesses No, you observe a lot of other people that behave similarly to you. If you define consciosuenss as "behaves like me to a certain extent", than yes, there are mutliple consciousnesses. But consciousness is defined as something subjective, so by that definition, there's only one consciousness. Perhaps you're in a dream and imagining everything. Or in a Matrix and other people are just computer programs.

RivieraKid 13y ago

> We can discuss it to death without ever reaching a conclusion. I can confirm, experienced this couple of times :) The way I define consciousness is very simple, it's my current feelings, thoughts and perceptions. It's also the only "thing" that I can be 100% sure about.

sergiosgc 13y ago
That is the "I think therefore I am" approach. Once, this approach led me to a fun conclusion: I think, therefore I am. However, I also observe what seem to be many consciousnesses. If I am the only provable consciousness, then I also am all the other consciousnesses. How can that be? By the Fermi paradox, I must be the first consciousness. If that is so, the most probable sequence of events is that I (my consciousness) appeared into the the void by pure randomness. Then I got bored, and created all this to pass the time. I am you, and I am every conscious being out there (so, that's why there is this "do unto others" golden rule!) This is kind of the unified theory of all religions, from mid-eastern origin all the way to Buddhism. Religion: solved. Now, on to the unified theory of physics.
- RivieraKid 13y ago
  > I also observe what seem to be many consciousnesses No, you observe a lot of other people that behave similarly to you. If you define consciosuenss as "behaves like me to a certain extent", than yes, there are mutliple consciousnesses. But consciousness is defined as something subjective, so by that definition, there's only one consciousness. Perhaps you're in a dream and imagining everything. Or in a Matrix and other people are just computer programs.