(March 2, 2018 at 11:13 am)Hammy Wrote: Philosophical zombies are possible because it's possible that a being could behave conscious without being conscious.
There could be alien species out there that are as advanced or even more advanced than us.... but who aren't conscious. We are simultaneously lucky and unlucky that our brain feels pain and pleasure and doesn't just react as if we feel it... but there's no reason to believe that evolution had to take the path of consciousness.
It's not just that philosophical zombies are possible... it's that we're not zombies, but we easily could have been. They are VERY possible.
The "either we're all zombies or zombies are impossible" thing is just completely backwards and couldn't be more wrong. Us all being zombies isn't no different to none of us being zombies, it is a huge difference. It's the difference between the lights being off and on.
The truth is we're not zombies, but we could have been, and there could be lifeforms out there that are indeed zombies, and yet have all the intelligence that we do.
OK, I disagree that they are even possible, at least given the laws of physics as we know them (what could happen in a world where water is XYZ is another story).
As I see it, consciousness is a phenomenon that automatically happens at a certain level of information processing complexity. Once you get to a certain stage, consciousness arises because you are processing information.
So, no, I don't think unconscious space aliens are possible either. If they have enough ability to process the information, they simply will be conscious.
OK, so how do I determine if I am a zombie? How do I know that what I *think* is feeling and experiencing is actually NOT what everyone else means by the terms? maybe I don't *really* feel and experience, but have instead some sort of vague shadow that is actually not conscious.
How would I know?
