[extropy-chat] Qualia Bet.

[John K Clark]

"Robin Hanson" <rhanson at gmu.edu>

> You *cannot* declare both "I know qualia exist because I see them",
> and also "scientific investigation cannot find qualia"

Although I pretty much agree with your views on this subject I can quibble
with the above statement. I am certain that qualia exists because I have
access to my direct experience of physical sensation; if you hit me on the
head with a hammer I don't need the scientific method to know that it hurts
me.  I am also certain that my qualia is causal because the outside world
(your hammer) can change my qualia, and my qualia (pain) can change
things in the outside world (your nose is now bleeding).

However there is no way I can prove the existence of my qualia to you
because you can not understand my direct experience of physical sensation
just as I do without you becoming me.  Therefore I just take it as an axiom
of existence that other people experience qualia too and it is an inevitable
byproduct of intelligence; and I think my axiom is as reasonable sounding as
any in mathematics.

  John K Clark