[ExI] Mental Phenomena

[John Clark]

On Sun, Jan 19, 2020 at 1:16 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>> You could point to a specific part of my brain and say that is what
>> caused me to behave in a certain way, but behavior is not qualia. You are
>> in the same position that Evolution was in when it produced the human race;
>> you can not directly detect qualia in others, you can only hypothesize
>> about it from their behavior.
>
>
> > *OK, in that case, what use is the word and concept "Qualia"?*
>

Not much use at all, that's why I rarely use the word except when other
people start using it.

> *Does it add anything at all to our understanding of ourselves?*
>

Nope.


> * > I don't believe in zombies.*
>

I don't either even though I can't prove it's untrue, I can't prove I not
the only person who isn't a zombie. But I could not function if I really
thought solipsism was true, few could, so one of my axioms of existence
must be intelligent behavior implies consciousness; the fact that Evolution
managed to produced at least one conscious being, me, despite Evolution's
inability to directly detect consciousness, gives me some confidence that
my axiom is not only useful in preserving my sanity but is probably true
too.

John K Clark
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