RE: Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness
August 26, 2015 at 1:51 am
(This post was last modified: August 26, 2015 at 1:54 am by robvalue.)
(August 25, 2015 at 7:21 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote:(August 25, 2015 at 3:29 pm)robvalue Wrote: Why does Sam Harris get to define consciousness? He's just another figment of my delusion seeking attention.As I said, Harris is saying consciousness is difficult to define. I'm only halfway through the book, but so far he has not attempted to offer an authoritative definition. I'm not defending him but I wonder why you are so down on him.
I'm still unsure about whether plants have consciousness. I'm sure they have something; whether it is classed as the same thing as consciousness produced by a brain, I don't know.
That was one of my stupid deadpan jokes that obviously missed the mark I was just being silly regarding solipsism. I don't have anything again Harris, I think he's amazing in fact.
It seems we will always come up against the barrier of knowing how consciousness, or other similar phenomena, "feels" to the thing experiencing it. I "feel" certain ways, but I can never ever be sure that anyone or anything else actually "feels" anything.
The point I'm trying to make is that we can only "measure" consciousness indirectly by observing the kind of things consciousness causes. We can't measure the actual experience itself, not yet anyway. Maybe one day there will be some weird technology that actually allows us to "experience" another life form's version of consciousness.
Of course, I'm expecting too much of science because we can only ever measure anything indirectly anyway.
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