Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[bennyboy]

There's really no problem with describing consciousness as "what lets us run away from the lions" except in that we might wish for it to be more (as you clearly do when you decide that consciousness is the experience of qualia).

In this sense, it's still a "whatever it is." The problem with evolutionary narratives is that the narrative is accepted as a reason: "We are conscious because if we can sense and escape lions, our DNA will have a better chance of propagating" really doesn't explain why there is consciousness, or what it is.

I still don't see a problem, we're still running away from lions - the work is still being accomplished, there is still a demonstrable effect to investigate, and I'll still call that consciousness, even without qualia - which I already do...obviously.

That's fine, but then the "whatever it is" that I experience as I wake up needs a new label, and we're back to another trip around the semantic merry-go-round.

Perhaps, in the case of consciousness, as in the case of this neon purple lion, a little division would go a long way.  After all, if you keep looking for something that may not be there, and using that absence to conclude that some -other- thing is also not present.....you're never going to find that other thing, no matter how many times it's set at your feet.

I'm sufficiently convinced of the reality of my own consciousness, by which I mean my ability to experience qualia, that I'm willing to take that chance. The label means something, and it may not be applicable to robots.