On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 8:33 AM Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > Am Mo, 26. Apr 2021, um 17:16, schrieb John Clark: > > On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 10:45 AM Terren Suydam <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > It's impossible to refute solipsism > > > True, but it's equally impossible to refute the idea that everything > including rocks is conscious. And if both a theory and its exact opposite > can neither be proven nor disproven then neither speculation is of any > value in trying to figure out how the world works. > > > When I was a little kid I would ask adults if rocks were conscious. They > tried to train me to stop asking such questions, because they were worried > about what other people would think. To this day, I never stopped asking > these questions. I see three options here: > > (1) They were correct to worry and I have a mental issue. > > (2) I am really dumb and don't see something obvious. > > (3) Beliefs surrounding consciousness are socially normative, and asking > question outside of such boundaries is a taboo. > > Consider the case where a god-like super intelligence for fun decided to wire up everything experienced by a particular rock during its billion year existence. All the light that fell on the rock's face, that super being could see, all the accelerations it underwent, it could feel. During this rock's history, it came to the surface in the 1800s, and then a house was built not far from where you grew up. One day you notice and decide to kick this rock, and the super being who chose to experience everything this particular rock felt, feels the kick. In a way, this god-like being has connected through nerves which are invisible to you (via its perfect knowledge of the history of this rock) to its brain. But these connections, though invisible, are no less real or concrete than the nerves that connect your hand to your brain. This super being might exist at a level outside our universe (e.g. in the universe running the simulation of this one). Ought we to conclude from this possibility that there is no way, even in principle, to detect which objects are capable of perceiving? That there is no way to know which objects happen to be imbued with consciousness, even for something that seems as inanimate and inert as a rock? You asked great questions. Jason -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUhxjSsRiVANzddoBR27uQHzWgCaYpo5O5r83QFB93gFUg%40mail.gmail.com.
