[ExI] The Problem of Mental Causation

[Adrian Tymes]

What is it, that is conscious?

Even if your decisions in reaction to certain stimulus are determined in
advance, no one can know precisely which stimulus you will experience in
what order over your entire life.  (No one you will ever interact with in a
meaningful-to-you way, anyway.  If you are in a well-designed simulation
for the benefit of others, you'll never know.)  Moreover, what are your
thoughts in the quiet moments, when you have a relative lack of stimuli?

Your decisions are your decisions, no matter how they came about.  It
doesn’t matter if they were predetermined or not; there is still a you that
is having those thoughts and finding your way through life.  If you were
just an automaton not responsible for your actions or beliefs, you would
not be having the thought that you were not responsible.  If you just
considered the concept upon reading those words, congratulations, you -
whatever collection of matter, energy, and perhaps more that "you" refers
to - can control your mind to some nonzero degree.

On Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 1:19 PM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> One of the great puzzles when it comes to understanding consciousness and
> its role in the universe is the question of how conscious thoughts could
> have any causal power in a universe fully governed and determined by
> particles blindly following forces of nature.
>
> Some solve this problem by supposing our will must somehow miraculously
> intervene in physics. Others solve this problem by denying human will or
> agency, relegating consciousness to an ineffectual, and inessential
> "epiphenomenon."
>
> But I think a more nuanced view can show that consciousness can have
> causal power in a universe fully determined by particles following physical
> equations. Here is my attempt at describing such a view:
>
>
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qCuCc9kvbw5KKHJ223l7MbbNhZkTamhA/view?usp=sharing
>
> An answer to this question is relevant to whether uploaded minds, AI, or
> robots can have will or agency, despite their behavior being fully
> determined by low-level machine code.
>
> Jason
>
>
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