A hypothesis about consciousness

[emjay]

Fair enough; I recognise that hearing a foreign language doesn't entirely lack meaning... there is still knowledge that it is speech and that it is a language... so it fits within the understanding enough at that level... ie familiar enough to be comfortable with the environment... even if it itself is not understood. The only way, hypothetically, to truly separate qualia from its meaning is with certain forms of deep meditation... allegedly; to see colours but not distinguish separate objects or meaning or to hear sounds as just sounds without any meaning whatsoever.