I was using David Chalmer's terminology. The science, however advanced it might become, is the "easy problem". Suppose alien scientists discover that human consciousness is caused by angels that reside in tiny black holes inside every neuron. They study these angels so closely that they come to understand them as well as humans understand hammers or screwdrivers today: well enough to build a human and predict his every response. Despite such detailed knowledge, they might still have no idea that humans are conscious, or what it is like to be a human, or how having one type of angel in your head feels different to having a different type of angel. For that matter, we have no idea whether hammers and screwdrivers have any kind of phenomenal consciousness. We assume that they do not, but maybe they experience something which for us is utterly beyond imagination. It's not a question science can ever answer, even in principle.
Stathis Papaioannou > > The hard problem is not that we haven't discovered the physics that > > explains > > consciousness, it is that no such explanation is possible. Whatever > > Physics X > > is, it is still possible to ask, "Yes, but how can a blind man who > > understands > > Physics X use it to know what it is like to see?" As far as the hard > > problem goes, > > Physics X (if there is such a thing) is no more of an advance than knowing > > which > > neurons fire when a subject has an experience. > > > > Stathis Papaioannou > > I think you are mixing up modelling and explanation. It may be that 'being > something' is the only way to describe it. Why is that invalid science? > Especially when 'being something' is everything that enables science. > > Every oject in the universe has a first person story to tell. Not just us. > Voicelessness is just an logistics issue. > > Colin _________________________________________________________________ Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail. http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
