Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[Rhondazvous]

Not a theory so much as wild eyed conjecture.  Unless you can present some "sentient energy" in any sense other than the poetic.  Would an atomic bomb release sentient energy, how about the light bulb in your example, would that also be sentient?  If not, why not?  Don;t get me wrong, you might be right, give me some way to determine that, and some way to tell which energy is sentient and which isn't (supposing it's not all sentient)?  What are the pass and fail conditions for this theory, specific emphasis on the failure conditions?

Otherwise I might end up sounding like a loon, talking about sentient campfires and sentient radiation when that's not -at all- what you mean..lol.

Okay. I like this kind of challenge. Not calling me an idiot or telling me to blow off but challenging me to prove my case.

The following may or may not stand as proof, but it’s something to think about.

We will start with certain givens. If we can’t agree about these givens then all bets are off. And we can go back to wondering we can get a refund on those new designer jeans we just bought after we’ve turned into an earthworm.

Givens
1. Brain activity is composed of electrical impulses
2. Electricity is a form of energy
3. Sentience is awareness of stimuli

Harris and other scientists that I’ve read assert that different parts of the brain show activity based on different stimuli. Would you agree that a picture of the president, a picture of strangers and a picture of someone you love will affect us indifferent way, thus evoking brain activity. This activity is not just a response because there is no direct contact. This activity is responding to the pictures in a way that requires interpretation. I would go so far as to say it requires awareness and thus indicates sentience.

A lightbulb or campfire does not interpret or even respond to stimuli. It can be affected by it, say when wind blows a fire, but that’s not a response.

Even if you’re not ready to preach the gospel of sentient energy to the world, are you at least ready to think about where I’m going and consider taking it further?