Trying to simplify my Consciousness hypothesis
February 13, 2017 at 11:04 pm
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2017 at 11:12 pm by Won2blv.)
I want to begin by making some basic assumptions. If you feel any are wrong then please let me know. Also, If anything sounds like woo, please specify that as well. Its still long but I'm trying to simplify the ideas. And the last paragraph is just a side point. So sorry if it still is too long
Assumptions:
1. All products of biological evolution, no matter how far advanced, have an early rudimentary base that become more and more sophisticated.
2. Evolution used information from its surrounding ecosystem to naturally select mechanisms that could make its products more efficient.
3. Our brains today serve as an advanced movie theater. Its not that what we see is an illusion, but rather it is a prediction made by our brain. This includes everything we perceive, physical and meta physical.
4. Whether or not a God or godlike figure exist, evolution was never directed by an outside intelligence. All advances in evolution, whether they were conscious, subconscious, accidental, or just plain dumb luck, only had an information data set that was based in our closed system of earth. (I feel like I could word that better if anyone has a suggestion)
So, if you assume all of those are true, then that means our consciousness is also a far advanced product of evolution. The Hard Problem of consciousness is like the GOP's hard problem of voter fraud. You can make it a problem, and support with subjective facts, but it is not a real problem.
The better question is this, how come we have such a Hard Problem with accepting consciousness as merely, just another evolutionary advancements, like the eye, brain, or blood.
Isn't consciousness nothing more than our brain making billions and trillions of instant predictions? I am looking outside my window and see mountains, trees, cars, and children right now. Every single thing I listed, is a physical entity but what I am actually "seeing" is an image. Our personal evolution has gotten so efficient and sophisticated, that it enables us to be constantly aware of everything around us. Its like google, when you search a question, you can almost always hit "i'm feeling lucky" and you'll probably find the answer you're looking for. This isn't because the google algorithm isnt conscious, or wise, or anything other than a really concise prediction machine for the internet.
It makes sense that our brain has found ways to "outsource" functions of a body. That way, the brain doesn't have to "think" about it. I don't have to command my heart to pump blood, and I don't have the ability to command it to stop. Our brains evolved to have a subconscious that takes care of the everyday maintenance, and a "fore-concscious" The evolutionary use of being conscious is obvious if you consider how big of an advantage it is to be able to learn how to even more efficiently make use of our surroundings.
So that maybe doesn't explain qualia. If you agree with my 4 assumptions, then all of qualia would be another evolutionary product that is rooted in a very basic function. I think of it this way, if our brain is just simply an information processor, then qualia is like the information that has been analyzed and processed so much that it is now whittled down to the point where it doesn't need a visual symbol to understand it. Qualia is so hard to explain in words, because we can only explain with feelings. Then in turn, its hard to explain how a feeling makes you feel without using another feeling. It reminds me of an elementary school teacher that would ask for the definition of the word, and then she would say, "and don't use the word in the definition."
We are far advanced but we're still in the infant stages of truly understanding our universe, let alone the intricacies of biological evolution. Again though, if you agree with all 4 assumptions, then you know there isn't anything special about us, other than we are a little more advance than our closest relatives, but even that is subjective. So, instead of focusing on the question of qualia as a mystery, it would be better to focus on how it can help explain our biological evolution. Scientists for the last few hundreds of years have made cosmological advances of understanding. Sometimes, they discovered forces that we're unknown and mysterious. But the scientists didn't sit and ponder just simply why it was, they wanted to know what it was. These mysterious forces are the key to cosmological evolution, I believe qualia is the key to understanding our cognitive evolution.
As a side point, I still believe that our cognition only feels like a mystery because we feel alone on the earth when it comes to advanced cognition. We have a the same skills as a lot of animals, we just happened to be able to hone that skill to an advanced degree. I have a window washing business. People often tell me how easy I make it look. I find it humorous because to me it is easy. Then when I try to teach someone, its frustrating when they can't just simply replicate what I am doing. I never think, though, am I special because I'm such a great window cleaner but the rest of the world isn't? I just simply honed a skill from experience and learning how to be optimally efficient, and optimally qualitative. Then you have someone like Tiger Woods, in the evolutionary world, it would seem like my skill as a window cleaner would be more beneficial than a good golf swing. Some could say though, that Tiger Woods treatment as a celebrity and demigod of golf, could have led to his downfall. Because in the end, even if you're the greatest golfer in the world, if you cheat on your wife with a million girls, she is going to come after you with one of your golf clubs to stick up your ass.
We're just out of touch with nature. Some more than others. We forget that we're just the latest product from EvolutionInc.
I just want to add one other point. The reason why many theists feel more at ease with qualia and the unknown forces of our mind, is because they have a satisfying answer. This might be beneficial for feeling more at ease with the mystery, but its not useful for understanding it. Kind of like them thinking the earth was the center of the universe. This might have been a satisfying answer to the physical world around them, but it stifled their advancement in scientific knowledge.
Assumptions:
1. All products of biological evolution, no matter how far advanced, have an early rudimentary base that become more and more sophisticated.
2. Evolution used information from its surrounding ecosystem to naturally select mechanisms that could make its products more efficient.
3. Our brains today serve as an advanced movie theater. Its not that what we see is an illusion, but rather it is a prediction made by our brain. This includes everything we perceive, physical and meta physical.
4. Whether or not a God or godlike figure exist, evolution was never directed by an outside intelligence. All advances in evolution, whether they were conscious, subconscious, accidental, or just plain dumb luck, only had an information data set that was based in our closed system of earth. (I feel like I could word that better if anyone has a suggestion)
So, if you assume all of those are true, then that means our consciousness is also a far advanced product of evolution. The Hard Problem of consciousness is like the GOP's hard problem of voter fraud. You can make it a problem, and support with subjective facts, but it is not a real problem.
The better question is this, how come we have such a Hard Problem with accepting consciousness as merely, just another evolutionary advancements, like the eye, brain, or blood.
Isn't consciousness nothing more than our brain making billions and trillions of instant predictions? I am looking outside my window and see mountains, trees, cars, and children right now. Every single thing I listed, is a physical entity but what I am actually "seeing" is an image. Our personal evolution has gotten so efficient and sophisticated, that it enables us to be constantly aware of everything around us. Its like google, when you search a question, you can almost always hit "i'm feeling lucky" and you'll probably find the answer you're looking for. This isn't because the google algorithm isnt conscious, or wise, or anything other than a really concise prediction machine for the internet.
It makes sense that our brain has found ways to "outsource" functions of a body. That way, the brain doesn't have to "think" about it. I don't have to command my heart to pump blood, and I don't have the ability to command it to stop. Our brains evolved to have a subconscious that takes care of the everyday maintenance, and a "fore-concscious" The evolutionary use of being conscious is obvious if you consider how big of an advantage it is to be able to learn how to even more efficiently make use of our surroundings.
So that maybe doesn't explain qualia. If you agree with my 4 assumptions, then all of qualia would be another evolutionary product that is rooted in a very basic function. I think of it this way, if our brain is just simply an information processor, then qualia is like the information that has been analyzed and processed so much that it is now whittled down to the point where it doesn't need a visual symbol to understand it. Qualia is so hard to explain in words, because we can only explain with feelings. Then in turn, its hard to explain how a feeling makes you feel without using another feeling. It reminds me of an elementary school teacher that would ask for the definition of the word, and then she would say, "and don't use the word in the definition."
We are far advanced but we're still in the infant stages of truly understanding our universe, let alone the intricacies of biological evolution. Again though, if you agree with all 4 assumptions, then you know there isn't anything special about us, other than we are a little more advance than our closest relatives, but even that is subjective. So, instead of focusing on the question of qualia as a mystery, it would be better to focus on how it can help explain our biological evolution. Scientists for the last few hundreds of years have made cosmological advances of understanding. Sometimes, they discovered forces that we're unknown and mysterious. But the scientists didn't sit and ponder just simply why it was, they wanted to know what it was. These mysterious forces are the key to cosmological evolution, I believe qualia is the key to understanding our cognitive evolution.
As a side point, I still believe that our cognition only feels like a mystery because we feel alone on the earth when it comes to advanced cognition. We have a the same skills as a lot of animals, we just happened to be able to hone that skill to an advanced degree. I have a window washing business. People often tell me how easy I make it look. I find it humorous because to me it is easy. Then when I try to teach someone, its frustrating when they can't just simply replicate what I am doing. I never think, though, am I special because I'm such a great window cleaner but the rest of the world isn't? I just simply honed a skill from experience and learning how to be optimally efficient, and optimally qualitative. Then you have someone like Tiger Woods, in the evolutionary world, it would seem like my skill as a window cleaner would be more beneficial than a good golf swing. Some could say though, that Tiger Woods treatment as a celebrity and demigod of golf, could have led to his downfall. Because in the end, even if you're the greatest golfer in the world, if you cheat on your wife with a million girls, she is going to come after you with one of your golf clubs to stick up your ass.
We're just out of touch with nature. Some more than others. We forget that we're just the latest product from EvolutionInc.
I just want to add one other point. The reason why many theists feel more at ease with qualia and the unknown forces of our mind, is because they have a satisfying answer. This might be beneficial for feeling more at ease with the mystery, but its not useful for understanding it. Kind of like them thinking the earth was the center of the universe. This might have been a satisfying answer to the physical world around them, but it stifled their advancement in scientific knowledge.
