[ExI] Red

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 01/07/2026 04:23, Jason Resch wrote:
> My argument against Brent's intrinsicism (the idea that qualia depend on intrinsic physicochemical properties of the neural substrate) is as follows:
>
> There are some 20,000 genes which means that there are no more than roughly 20,000 unique chemicals/molecules within the brain. Let's round up and say 30,000. ...


That's not really accurate. Many proteins are created by combining together parts of different genes, excising segments from sequences of RNA, and other processes, so you can get a lot more proteins for your DNA money (Look at antibody generation for a good example), as well as the fact that most proteins are enzymes, that can, in combination, produce a wide variety of other molecules. But your general point still stands, and echoes my own objection: There are simply nowhere near enough different molecules (in the entire universe!) to account for the ridiculously huge number of possible qualia. So qualia cannot possibly be directly dependent on the properties of matter, in the way Brent claims.

I pointed this problem out a few years ago, but Brent has never addressed it, so I dropped the whole thing. There's not much point talking to someone who cherry-picks the arguments he's willing to engage with, and simply ignores inconvenient facts that contradict his ideas.

Will this time be any different? We'll see.

-- 
Ben