A Conscious Universe

[bennyboy]

What do you mean my "experience is the operation of a machine"?

That, for example, the "experience" of red is the operation of your eyes, which send a signal to your brain, that takes those signals and does work with associated neurons and regions.

Why do you put "quotes" around "experience?" I look at the pen on my desk, and I experience its redness. What's the "problem" with "that?" Could it be that when it comes to begging the question, the Rhythm doth protest too much, and you want to conflate experience, which is subjective, with brain function, which is objective?

You've made a lot of factual-sounding statements about the nature of experience. I'm intrigued-- tell me by what criteria you establish whether a given physical system is capable of qualia, and if so, what the nature of that qualia is? Tell me by what physical apparatus, measurements, or observations have you determined that even people experience qualia? And, once you've achieved this incredible feat, how do you tell what said systems or people are experiencing?

I can see where this is going-- for another trip around the same old merry-go-round. You are going to conflate the mechanism of experience with experience, I'm going to produce about a half-dozen examples showing that the mechanism of a phenomenon and the phenomenon are not identical. Then what? What new ground are we going to try to cover in this thread? What new angle will we find that will make the next 50 pages worthwhile?