Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness

[robvalue]

I find this all very interesting even if it's mostly over my head

That's a good comment Rhonda that a good scienctist "never says never". I agree with the sentiment entirely, in theory.

However, the biggest barrier is solipsism though. It seems that I can genuinely never know that this is actually "reality" or that any other minds actually experience things anything like I do. It's the problem of confirmation: I have no independent observers to confer with.

How can this barrier ever come down? I genuinely don't know. It seems impossible. Any apparent disconnect from this reality into the "real reality" could still be part of this delusion.

To put it even more simply, how can I ever know I'm not dreaming? The answer to me seems to be that I can't, ever, for the same reasons.

I'm aware I'm using definitive language here which I don't like doing, but it seems like a logical barrier which will survive anything.