Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[Whateverist]

I see what you're saying, but I think you're emphasizing how we make the attribution of consciousness over the nature of consciousness itself. We start with the capacity for knowing consciousness first hand. Perhaps we have to make a little effort to understand the concept in question. But once we have it, we also have on board the thing itself against which all descriptions will either fail or succeed. The description does not -cannot- come first. That's what makes it a being thing. Your machine may be able to do the do, but will that make it be the be? I think not.